Making STEM “Family Friendly”: The Impact of Perceiving Science Careers as Family-Compatible

Erica S. Weisgram and Amanda B. Diekman
Additional contact information
Erica S. Weisgram: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Stevens Point, WI 54481, USA
Amanda B. Diekman: Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA

Social Sciences, 2017, vol. 6, issue 2, 1-19

Abstract: Two studies extended the communal goal congruity perspective to examine perceived incongruity between science careers and family caregiving goals. Study 1 examined beliefs about science careers among young adolescents, older adolescents, and young adults. Science careers were perceived as unlikely to afford family goals, and this belief emerged more strongly with age cohort. Study 1 also documented that the perception that science affords family goals predicts interest in pursuing science. Study 2 then employed an experimental methodology to investigate the impact of framing a science career as integrated with family life or not. For family-oriented women, the family-friendly framing of science produced greater personal favorability toward pursuing a science career. In addition, perceived fulfilment of the scientist described predicted personal favorability toward a science career path. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and for policy.

Keywords: gender; STEM; goal congruity; family (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/2/61/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/2/61/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:6:y:2017:i:2:p:61-:d:101162

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().