What Makes a STEM Major? Examining Attitudes and Strength-Related Features as Predictors of Pursuing a STEM Education.
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Date
2024-05
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
The current study measured attitudes toward science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) along with attitude strength-related features, and behavioral intentions to pursue education in STEM. It was hypothesized that overall positive attitudes toward STEM subjects will predict behavioral intentions to further pursue STEM education, and that this relationship should be moderated by attitude components related to attitude strength such as ambivalence, certainty, personal importance, and related knowledge. Certainty, importance, and knowledge were hypothesized to amplify this main effect, while ambivalence was hypothesized to weaken it. Attitudes were found to predict respondents’ willingness to pursue STEM education, with more favorable attitudes toward STEM relating to higher intentions of pursuing STEM education. More importantly, ambivalence was found to be a significant moderator in the attitude-intention relationship, such that attitudes better predict intentions when ambivalence is relatively low rather than high. Interaction effects of attitudes with certainty, importance, and knowledge were not found to be significant. The results suggest that having mixed feelings about STEM subjects or careers could deter the pursuit of these majors. Thus, efforts to reduce student ambivalence toward STEM subjects may be an effective method for increasing STEM education pursuit.
Description
Senior Thesis Recognition Award
Psychology Research Award
Psychology Research Award
Keywords
Attitudes, Attitude Strength, STEM Education, Undergraduates, Ambivalence, Behavioral Intentions