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Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering

Published 6 issues per year

ISSN Print: 1072-8325

ISSN Online: 1940-431X

SJR: 0.514 SNIP: 0.875 CiteScore™:: 2.4 H-Index: 27

Indexed in

PREDICTING COLLEGE WOMEN'S PERCEPTIONS OF A FUTURE IN ENGINEERING BY THEIR EXPERIENCES OF MICROAGGRESSIONS, IDENTITY MANAGEMENT, AND SELF-EFFICACY IN COLLEGE ENGINEERING

Volume 24, Issue 4, 2018, pp. 339-360
DOI: 10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2018020527
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ABSTRACT

This purpose of this study on college women majoring in engineering was to examine how their experience of gender microaggressions, the centrality of their identities as women and as engineers, and their strategic management of these identities predicted their self-efficacy and perceived future of graduating and seeking a career in engineering. Survey data were collected from 404 female undergraduate engineering students from two mid-sized universities in the Western U.S. and analyzed with confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results suggested that women's engineering identity centrality, or the importance they placed on being engineering students to their self-concept, was beneficial for their perceived persistence in the field; whereas their gender identity centrality, or the importance they placed on being women, was problematic. However, identity management partially mitigated these associations. Engineering identity centrality predicted social recategorization, which is characterized by blending in with men and de-emphasizing one's gender. In contrast, gender identity centrality predicted positive distinctiveness, a strategy that is typified by attempts to improve men's perceptions of women. Social recategorization had no apparent benefits as an identity management strategy, whereas positive distinctiveness indirectly predicted increased likelihood of persistence via self-efficacy. The implications of these two strategies are discussed.

Forthcoming Articles

Mitigating Barriers, Scaffolding Success: Institutional Supports for Black Undergraduate Women in Engineering Programs Meseret Hailu, Neelakshi Rajeev Tewari, Brooke Coley Underrepresented Students Pursuing Mathematics-Intensive Degrees: Changes after Transitioning to College Alison Marzocchi What do STEM Clubs do? The Effect of College Club Participation on Career Confidence and Gender Inclusion Guillermo Dominguez Garcia, Jennifer Glass Validating Practices and Messages that Promote Women’s Engineering Classroom Belongingness: An Intersectional Approach Dina Verdin, A Lili Castillo Examining the Role of Institutional Support on International Doctoral Women’s STEM Persistence and Mental Health Aisha Farra, Aashika Anantharaman, Sarah Swanson, Kerrie Wilkins-Yel, Jennifer Bekki, Nedim Yel, Ashley Randall, Bianca Bernstein Searching for safe space: Student veterans’ uneven pathways to STEM careers by race Brittany Hunt, Jae Hoon Lim Does Race, Ethnicity or Gender of the Mentor Affect Whether They Will be a “Good Mentor”? A Qualitative Analysis of Students’ Perceptions Reuben May, Christine Stanley, America Soto-Arzat, Jennifer Ackerman PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY AND TEAM MEMBER EFFECTIVENESS OF MINORITIZED STUDENTS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION Behzad Beigpourian, Matthew Ohland Perceptions of Department Chair Roles and Responsibilities in Career Progression and Success of Women STEM Faculty Stephanie Jones, Patricia Ryan Pal “Barbed-Wire Boundaries”: Hidden Curriculum, First-Generation and Low-Income Engineering Students, and Internship Acquisition Jerry Yang, Joseph Towles, Sheri Sheppard, Sara Atwood “I Want to Make an Impact”: The Science Identity and Career Goals of Black and Latinx Science and Engineering Postdoctoral Scholars Sylvia Mendez, Kathryn Watson, Kathryn Starkey, Valerie Conley Care Work, Science Brokering, and Career Motivations: How Hispanic/Latinx Young Adults in STEM Express Social Agency during the COVID-19 Pandemic Angela Frederick, Angelica Monarrez, Danielle Morales Bridging the gap: A sequential mixed methods study of trust networks in graduate application, admissions, and enrollment Cynthia Villarreal, Julie Posselt, Theresa Hernandez, Alexander Rudolph
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