Citation
Cech, E., Rubineau, B., Silbey, S., & Seron, C. (2011). Professional role confidence and gendered persistence in engineering. American Sociological Review, 76(5), 641-666.
Highlights
- The study examined the actual and intended persistence in the engineering field of 288 students entering engineering programs in 2003 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, and Smith College.
- The authors estimated regression models using data from a longitudinal survey conducted online, which followed the same students from freshman to senior year, to analyze factors significantly associated with (1) the students’ intentions to stay in the engineering field in five years and (2) the students’ actual persistence in the field over the course of the survey period.
- The study found that male students were more likely to stay in their engineering major over the course of the study, as well as to stay in the engineering field at higher rates than the female students. However, the study found no significant association between plans for a family and women leaving the engineering major. Likewise, the study did not find a significant association between self-assessment of math skills and persistence in the engineering field for women.
- The authors generated a measure of professional role confidence, which included both an assessment of one’s own expertise and skills needed for engineering jobs and a self-assessment of how well the engineering field fits the individual’s career plans. The study found that the professional role confidence measure was significantly associated with persistence in the engineering field. The professional role confidence measure varied significantly by gender, however, with men having higher confidence measures; the authors suggested that professional role confidence might help explain the differing persistence levels between men and women in engineering.
Reviewed by CLEAR
September 2015