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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 11, No. 2
Publication Date: February 25, 2024
DOI:10.14738/assrj.112.16379.
Conn, C., Cho, P. Y., & Cho, L. S. (2024). Academic Self-Concept Development for STEM College Students: An Analysis on Gender
Difference. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 11(2). 570-581.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Academic Self-Concept Development for STEM College Students:
An Analysis on Gender Difference
Cameron Conn
Baptist Health Sciences University, United States
Peter Y. Cho
Cerritos High School, United States
Linda S. Cho
Whitney High School, United States
ABSTRACT
Using a nation-wide college student dataset, this study examines the gender
disparities in academic self-concept for undergraduate students in Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors and investigates college
experiences affecting academic self-concept in this population. Findings of the
current study suggest that overall college satisfaction is the strongest positive
predictor of academic self-concept for college students in STEM majors and that
institutions and their members should strive to facilitate satisfactory and
educationally meaningful college experiences for these students at the macro level.
Also, faculty members and administrators in STEM majors should be aware of the
importance of positive faculty support on students’ academic self-concept
development and should continue trying to create an environment where students
can experience more frequent and positive encounters with their faculty members.
Lastly, our findings show that the effects of some college experiences on academic
self-concept development for STEM students vary by student gender. The findings
underscore the significance of the nature or type of college experiences and the
corresponding gender inequity and suggest that STEM majors need to facilitate
departmental environments where both male and female students can equivalently
benefit from their college experiences not only for their academic development but
also for other desired college outcomes.
Keywords: Academic Self-Concept, STEM, Gender, College Students
INTRODUCTION
Many of the U.S.’s fastest growing occupations are in the STEM fields (US Bureau of Labor
Statistics, 2023). Data Scientists, statisticians, information security analysists, and software
developers’ rate in the top ten. Health care providers like nurse practitioners, physician
assistants, and physical therapists also rate in top ten. All of these professions require education
in one or more STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). However,
higher education research shows that retention in the STEM fields is a challenge. As many as
60% of undergraduate students who begin in STEM majors fail to graduate with STEM-related
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 11, Issue 2, February-2024
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
concept have been found to contribute to more objective academic outcomes, such has higher
GPA (Choi 2005; Lent et al. 1997; Pajares & Miller 1994; Wood & Locke 1987). Previous studies
have shown that academic self-concept generally increases during college for all populations
(Astin 1993; Hesse-Biber & Marino 1991).
The following section will summarize existing literature about academic self-concept and
studies focused on STEM students and/or gender differences in this population. Furthermore,
two substantial relational factors that have been found to influence college students’ academic
outcomes will be explored: faculty interactions with students and students’ social and peer
relationships.
Student-Faculty Interaction
Specific college experiences can contribute to gains in academic self-concept. One fundamental
college experience, student-faculty interaction, has long been recognized and validated by
hundreds of research studies as a high impact practice (Chickering & Gamson, 1987) in
undergraduate education. Previous research studies have focused on the relationship between
various types of student-faculty interaction and college outcomes among STEM students. Below
several studies are highlighted.
Kim and Sax (2014) conducted a study of the effects of student-faculty interaction on academic
self-concept using a sample of 11,202 undergraduate students across 95 colleges and
universities. For this study, they divided the sample by academic discipline to see if there were
differences in how faculty and students interacted across groups and how the differences may
have affected students’ academic self-concept differently. Twenty-one percent of their sample
was categorized as investigative majors under Holland’s framework of careers (1973; 1985:
1997), which most closely aligns with the definition of STEM fields in the current paper.
The large majority (84%) of STEM majors were satisfied or very satisfied with the amount of
faculty contact, and 75% of STEM students were satisfied or very satisfied with their ability to
find a faculty mentor. Students majoring in artistic fields (e.g., theater, music, literature,
architecture) were the only group reporting meaningfully higher rates of satisfaction. STEM
student satisfaction with faculty-student interaction was on par or better than students
majoring in social (e.g., history, religion, education, sociology) or enterprising majors (e.g.,
business, journalism, law, communications).
More specifically, Kim and Sax (2014) reported that 43% of STEM students recounted talking
to faculty members weekly during office hours, and 34% of STEM students spent one or more
hours per week talking with faculty members outside of class or office hours. Thirty percent of
STEM students frequently asked a professor for advice outside of class, and 8% of students
reported having been a guest in a professor’s home frequently. In addition to accounting for
these student-faculty interactions, the study found that students in the STEM fields less
frequently “challenged a professor’s ideas in class,” compared to students in other academic
fields.
Within the full sample, they found that all three student-faculty interaction variables (i.e.,
having been a guest in a professor’s home, asking a professor for advice outside of class, and
challenging a professor’s ideas in class) were “significantly and positively related to students’