Career Choice among First-Generation, Minority STEM College Students.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Dewsbury BM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6853776 | biostudies-literature | 2019
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Career Choice among First-Generation, Minority STEM College Students.
Dewsbury Bryan M BM Taylor Cynthia C Reid Amy A Viamonte Connie C
Journal of microbiology & biology education 20191031 3
We qualitatively investigated ways in which undergraduates unpacked their perceptions of STEM careers after attending a seminar series that introduced them to diverse scientists. Using Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) as a guiding framework, we explored how culturally-specific realities impacted students' career choices. Our findings suggest that familial ties and cultural expectations played key roles in determining how students navigated career choice. Our results have implications for ho ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:Psychological factors have been implicated in STEM persistence but remain poorly understood. In particular, the role of self-regulation--the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional skills that allow individuals to work efficiently toward their desired goals, especially when under stress--has received minimal attention. Psychological factors may be particularly important for persistence by underrepresented minority (URM) students, many of whom face significant barriers to success in STEM. We examined the extent to which self-regulation predicts STEM persistence in 732 STEM students and whether minority status moderated self-regulation's associations with STEM persistence. We found minimal differences in self-regulation styles between URM and nonunderrepresented minority students. Baseline cognitive-emotional self-regulation predicted intentions to persist in a science career, using alcohol and drugs to cope with stress predicted less persistence in STEM major across the year, and only URM status predicted end-of-year GPA. Minority status did not moderate these associations. Future research is needed on self-regulation skills and students' trajectories of STEM success.
| S-EPMC6886120 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Objectives:To gain insight into factors affecting career preference and career choice during the final phase of medical school, above and beyond a model that was presented by Bland and colleagues in 1995 (the "Bland model"). Methods:A qualitative study was conducted. One-hour semi-structured interviews were conducted with final-year medical students about career preference and the factors influencing preference and choice. The interviews were transcribed and a thematic analysis was applied, to identify patterns and interrelationships in the data and to compare and contrast these with the Bland model. Results:Twenty-four students participated. Three critical sets of factors, not present in the Bland model, emerged from the interviews: (a) factors arising from student-initiated information collection, (b) patient population characteristics of a specialty domain, and (c) the characteristics of teams and colleagues within a specialty. Conclusions:Students appear to actively match and calibrate perceptions of different specialty characteristics with their current personal needs and expected future needs, and to include cues from self-initiated information collection about a speciality. This agency aligns with Billett's workplace learning theory. Next, specialty patient population features appear to be taken into account; this was not unexpected but not included in the Bland model. Finally, the characteristics of teams and colleagues of a specialty were stressed in the interviews. These three components broaden the applicability of the Bland model--originally created for primary-care careers--to medical specialties in general.
| S-EPMC6387763 | biostudies-other
Project description:College has been hailed as a "great equalizer" that can substantially reduce the influence of parents' socioeconomic status on their children's subsequent life chances. Do the equalizing effects of college extend beyond the well-studied economic outcomes to other dimensions, in particular, marriage? When and whom one marries have important implications for economic and family stability, with marriage acting as a social safety net, encouraging joint long-term investments, and potentially producing dual-earner families. I focus on the marriage timing and assortative mating patterns of first- and continuing-generation college graduates to test whether college acts as an equalizer for marriage against alternative hypotheses. Using discrete-time event-history methods and data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, I find small differences between first- and continuing-generation graduates in marriage timing, but larger differences in assortative mating, particularly for women. First-generation women have a substantially lower likelihood of marrying another college graduate than do continuing-generation women, and a higher likelihood of marrying a noncollege graduate. These findings highlight the importance of examining noneconomic outcomes when studying social mobility and offer insight into how inequality may persist across generations, especially for women, despite apparent upward mobility.
| S-EPMC9309864 | biostudies-literature
Project description:OBJECTIVE:This study used a minority stress framework to investigate the relationships between multiple stressors (e.g., general life stress, race related stress, and acculturative stress) and high-risk drinking behaviors in a sample of second-generation Black emerging adult college students across the United States. METHOD:Participants (n = 148) were recruited from U.S. colleges and universities as part of a large, multiwave cross-sectional study. RESULTS:Findings from this study mirrored those in the extant literature: the positive relationship between race-related stress and high-risk drinking behaviors found in other marginalized groups. However, when all stressors were entered into the model, acculturative stress accounted for significant variance in high-risk drinking behaviors above and beyond general life and race-related stressors in second generation Black emerging adult college students. CONCLUSION:Findings underscore the need to better understand the influence of acculturative stress on high-risk drinking behaviors among second-generation Black emerging adult college students: an understudied population in both the acculturation and alcohol use literatures. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
| S-EPMC5491347 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundTraining for a career in podiatry is reported to provide graduates with excellent employability, alongside professional autonomy and suitable renumeration. Yet, there has been an ongoing decline in the number of those applying to study the subject. There is limited literature associated with this topic and we sought to explore the factors that attract 'generation Z' (those born 1995-2010) to a potential career in podiatry.MethodA qualitative design framework underpinned by phenomenological principles used four focus groups over a two-year period to generate data from participants at University and in Further Education. Focus group conversations were led by external facilitator, recorded, independently transcribed verbatim and anonymised prior to thematic analysis. This was followed by external, independent verification of themes.ResultsFour main themes were determined from the analysis i) a lack of awareness of podiatry; ii) podiatry: accessible course, accessible career; iii) career status; iv) breadth/opportunity of the scope of practice. Both positive and negative experiences were reported and highlighted key gaps in how the attractiveness of a career in podiatry is portrayed.ConclusionThe chronic lack of awareness of podiatry as a career clearly needs to be addressed, ideally with more positive role modelling in mainstream and popular media. The career status offered together with the breadth of, and opportunity associated with, the scope of practice should continue to be celebrated.
| S-EPMC8052815 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A one-credit hour, elective, professional development course was created at North Carolina State University to introduce pre-veterinary track students to the admissions process and the breadth of the veterinary profession. The course was designed to facilitate career exploration while building self-efficacy through vicarious learning, interacting with speakers in various veterinary subfields, and addressing misperceptions about veterinary admissions. To evaluate the student learning objectives and improve upon the current practices of the course, data from two pretest and posttest course surveys for 235 course participants between Spring 2014 and 2017 were analyzed. The results of the study showed that students experienced significant gains in self-appraisal (Cohen's d ranged 1.88 to 2.53), gathering occupational information (Cohen's d ranged 1.59 to 2.53), goal selection (Cohen's d ranged 2.14 to 2.53), and planning and problem-solving (Cohen's d ranged 1.88 to 2.77) as well as experienced a decrease in five misperceptions about veterinary admissions. This novel course is presented as a prospective course for other universities.
| S-EPMC8495951 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background:Although stress reaction is high among nursing staff and nursing students in the Middle East and its effect on life is known, there are scant studies reporting on these clinical and social features. In addition, there are no studies reporting on factors that influence career choice among this group. Aim:This study aimed to investigate factors that influence career choice among nursing students and their possible association with depressive symptoms. Method:Participants were 150 (84.7% response rate) nursing students randomly selected from each academic year at the Nursing College/Jordan University of Science and Technology. Participants consented and completed the socio-demographic data collection sheet. The Arabic version of the Beck Depression Inventory-II Scale was used to assess participants with respect to depressive symptoms. A modified list of factors influencing career choice and a Likert scale to assess the level of sadness and the degree of religiosity were used as well. Results:Students ranked the most important three factors influencing their career selection as family decision, religious factors, and the desire to care for others. The prevalence of depression among the sample was 26%. Students who had a desire to care for others were less likely to suffer from depression and those who chose nursing as their career due to religious factors were significantly less depressed than those who did not. Meanwhile, students who chose nursing under family pressure or because of a lack of alternative opportunities were more depressed. The odds ratio for depressive symptoms was 0.24 when students chose nursing because of religious factors, whereas it was 4.92 when the family strongly influenced the student's career decision and 3.61 when a nursing career was the only perceived opportunity available. Conclusion:The main factors associated with depression among this sample of nursing students were pressure from their family to choose a nursing career and having no other career or employment opportunities. Religiosity was negatively associated with depression and may act as a protective factor; however, future studies using longitudinal designs will need to confirm this hypothesis.
| S-EPMC5703015 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Food contributes to an individual's physical and mental well-being and expresses one's cultural identity through preparation, sharing, and consumption (i.e., foodways). Inadequate access to cultural foods can create cultural stress and affect one's identity and well-being. In particular, second-generation U.S. American student populations may have a higher risk for cultural stress due to being away from family, academic stress, environmental changes, and diminished financial stability to purchase cultural foods. Thus, an exploratory qualitative methodology was used to elicit information about second-generation U.S. Americans' food experiences to identify how cultural foods play a role in individual identity and how individual well-being is influenced by the presence or lack of cultural foods. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with second-generation American students at the University of Nevada, Reno, who self-identified as a cultural or ethnic minority. A standard thematic analysis was conducted. The authors identified that cultural food security influenced the ability to practice foodways, which tied Second-generation American students to their cultural identities. The absence of foodways led to anxiety and depression among students, amplifying the feelings of identity degradation. Second-generation American students discussed that the ability to practice their foodways improved multiple well-being components and led to feelings of happiness, decreased stress, warmth, better digestion, and a sense of belonging, comfort, and safety. College populations continue to grow and become more diverse, and with the increasing Second-generation American students, it is essential to improve the access and availability of cultural foods to improve their overall well-being. (245/250 words).Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12571-020-01140-w.
| S-EPMC7829482 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveSexual and gender minorities are at elevated risk for suicide, yet few studies have examined differences in risk within many sexual and gender minority subgroups. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in prevalence for suicide risk factors among a wide range of sexual orientations and gender identities.MethodForty-one thousand four hundred and twelve college students (62% cis-female, 37% cis-male, 1% transgender/genderqueer) completed a wellness screen that included four suicide risk factors (depression, heavy alcohol use, suicide ideation, suicide attempt).ResultsGender minority students (i.e., transgender, genderqueer/non-binary) had significantly higher rates of depression, suicide ideation, and suicide attempts relative to cisgender peers, although there were no within-group differences among gender minority students. Adjusted odds ratios for endorsing two or more (2+) suicide risk factors were substantially higher for all sexual minority subgroups relative to heterosexuals. Among sexual minorities, those identifying as pansexual, bisexual, queer, or mostly gay/lesbian had greater odds of endorsing 2+ suicide risk factors relative to students identifying as mostly heterosexual, gay/lesbian, asexual, or 'other sexual minority'. Pansexual students had 33% greater odds of endorsing 2+ suicide risk factors relative to bisexual students.ConclusionsThese findings highlight significant variation in suicide risk among sexual minority subgroups and the need for targeted interventions for subgroups at highest risk.
| S-EPMC7981781 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe undergraduate program of psychiatry has been widely established in recent years to improve the education and recruitment of psychiatrists in China. We aim to investigate the career choice of medical students majoring in psychiatry in China and the influential factors.MethodThis multicenter study was conducted in 26 medical schools in China from May to October of 2019. Participants included 4610 medical students majoring in psychiatry and 3857 medical students majoring in clinical medicine. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate the influential factors of students' choices of psychiatry at matriculation and as a career.Results44.08% of psychiatry majored students gave psychiatry as a first choice at matriculation, and 56.67% of them would choose psychiatry as a career, which was in sharp contrast to the proportion of clinical medicine majored students who would choose psychiatry as a career (0.69%). Personal interest (59.61%), suggestions from family members (27.96%), and experiencing mental problems (23.19%) were main reasons for choosing psychiatry major at matriculation. Personal interest (odds ratio [OR] = 2.12, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.87-2.40), experiencing a psychiatry clerkship (OR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.28-3.08), being female (OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.30-1.68), experiencing mental problems (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.28-1.56), and suggestions from family members (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.08-1.46) correlated positively with students' choice of psychiatry as career. Students who lacked psychiatry knowledge (OR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.29-0.85) or chose psychiatry because of lower admission scores (OR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.63-0.97) were less likely to choose psychiatry as a career.ConclusionMore than half of psychiatry majored medical school students planned to choose psychiatry as their career, whereas very few students in the clinic medicine major would make this choice. Increasing students' interest in psychiatry, strengthening psychiatry clerkships, and popularizing psychiatric knowledge are modifiable factors to increase the psychiatry career intention. The extent to which medical students' attitudes toward psychiatry can be changed through medical school education and greater exposure to psychiatry will need further investigation.
| S-EPMC7992123 | biostudies-literature