Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference

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The Relationship Between Ethnic Identity and Self-Efficacy Amongst Undergraduate STEM Students

Graduate #124
Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Electrical Engineering

Martez Burks - Tennessee State University

The current study investigated ethnic identity in relation to the self-efficacy and coping efficacy among a sample of 439 undergraduate STEM students using Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). SCCT provides a theoretical framework for understanding professional pursuit. Several factors contributing to undergraduate STEM student retention have emerged in the research literature. Women and men who identify as people of color are considerably understated in scientific and technical careers (Hackett, Betz, Casas, & Rocha-Singh, 1992). H0: There is a relationship between ethnic identity in relation to self-efficacy and coping efficacy.The few studies in the literature with more representative samples have focused on the relation of career self-efficacy to traditional versus nontraditional career paths. Even though the findings from this research support the role of career self-efficacy in vocational deliberation, ethnic differences were not specifically observed (Bores-Rangel, Church, Szendre & Reeves, 1990). Methods: For this analysis, a control group was not appropriate for this research question.The correlation coefficient (n = 433) between self-efficacy and coping efficacy was .472 (p < .001). The relation (n=433) between self-efficacy and ethnic identity was -.063 (p<.001). The correlation coefficient (n=433) between coping efficacy and ethnic identity was -.065 (p<.001). These results indicates no significant difference between ethnic identity in relation to self-efficacy and coping efficacy. As self-efficacy increases for Stem students it may impact their ability to cope with various challenges more efficiently. The findings support the role of self-efficacy in students’ coping efficacy for STEM majors. Future research involves examining the influence of various STEM majors such as mechanical engineering and computer engineering, and factors that may impact their decisions to persist in the major.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): This study was supported, in part, by a grant from NSF/HBCU-UP grant awarded to Marie S. Hammond, Associate Professor, Psychology.

Faculty Advisor: Marie Hammond, mhammond1@tnstate.edu

Role: For this research, I implemented interventions to the undergraduate engineering STEM students.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DUE-1930047. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council of AAAS, AAAS’ membership or the National Science Foundation.