Thelen, Caitlyn and Tsai, Pei-Chun and Cohn, Tracy and Biermeier-Hanson, Benjamin Impostor Feelings and Career Outcomes Among Women in STEM: The Roles of Encouragement and Research Self-Efficacy. 2022. Radford University, Dissertation. Radford University Scholars' Repository.
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Abstract
Despite women’s increased representation overall in higher education, women still earn fewer doctoral degrees than men in many STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields, particularly in those fields that are math-intensive (i.e., mathematics, engineering, computer science, and physical sciences). Lower levels of self-efficacy in women have been identified as one critical barrier that may explain the underrepresentation of women in math-intensive STEM fields. The impostor phenomenon (IP) may contribute to differences in self-efficacy as well as negatively impact STEM women’s interest in research and expectations for a career in STEM. Using the interest model of social cognitive career theory (SCCT) as a theoretical framework, the study examined research self-efficacy (RSE) as a mediator and encouragement as a moderator in the relationships between impostor feelings and interest in research and expectations for a STEM career. Participants were 167 STEM women in doctoral programs in the math-intensive fields. Results indicated that RSE partially mediated the relationships between impostor feelings and interest in research as well as impostor feelings and expectations for a STEM career. In addition, encouragement moderated the relationship between impostor feelings and RSE. These findings suggest that building research self-efficacy in and providing encouragement to STEM doctoral programs may reduce the negative impacts of impostor feelings.
| Item Type: | Dissertation |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | impostor phenomenon, STEM women, encouragement, social cognitive career theory, research self-efficacy, interest in research, expectations for a STEM career |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology |
| Divisions: | Radford University > College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences > Department of Psychology |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Aug 2022 02:07 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Apr 2023 17:13 |
| URI: | http://wagner.radford.edu/id/eprint/878 |
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