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Am I a Science Person? A Strong Science Identity Bolsters Minority Students' Sense of Belonging and Performance in College.

ABSTRACT: Identifying as a "science person" is predictive of science success, but the mechanisms involved are not well-understood. We hypothesized that science identity predicts success because it fosters a sense of belonging in science classrooms. Thus, science identity should be particularly important for first-generation and racial-minority students, who may harbor doubts about belonging in science. Two field studies in college Introductory Biology classes (Ns = 368, 639) supported these hypotheses. A strong science identity predicted higher grades, particularly for minority students. Also consistent with hypotheses, Study 2 found that self-reported belonging in college mediated the relationship between science identity and performance. Furthermore, a social belonging manipulation eliminated the relationship between science identity and performance among minority students. These results support the idea that a strong science identity is particularly beneficial for minority students because it bolsters belonging in science courses. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

SUBMITTER: Chen S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7961640 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A person-centered analysis of ethnic-racial socialization patterns and their identity correlates in multiracial college students.

Project description:ObjectivesLittle is understood about how Multiracial individuals are socialized around race and ethnicity, and how these socialization messages are related to ethnic-racial identity development.MethodThis study utilizes a person-centered framework with a diverse sample of 286 Multiracial college students to examine the patterns of ethnic-racial socialization messages individuals received from their primary caregiver.ResultsA latent profile analysis of caregivers' socialization messages produced a four-profile solution: Typical Messages (socialization messages with average frequency), Minority Messages (frequent cultural socialization and preparation for bias geared toward minority group membership), High Mistrust (frequent promotion of mistrust messages), and Low Frequency (all socialization messages at low frequency). Overall, profile differences were evident with respect to ethnic-racial identity endorsement, where participants in the Minority Messages profile endorsed the greatest levels of ethnic/racial exploration. In addition, individuals in the Minority Messages profile also endorsed higher levels of ethnic/racial identity resolution and affirmation than the High Mistrust and Low Frequency Messages profile. Individuals in the High Mistrust profile endorsed greater levels of identity conflict than the Minority Messages profile.ConclusionsThe current study provides evidence that the pattern of socialization messages Multiracial participants received growing up impact their ethnic-racial identity endorsement. Results highlight the need for continued quantitative and person-centered work when studying socialization and identity in Multiracials. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

| S-EPMC8298278 | biostudies-literature

Career Choice among First-Generation, Minority STEM College Students.

Project description: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 how institutions navigate career pursuit discussions with students.

| S-EPMC6853776 | biostudies-literature

Investigating Undergraduate Biology Students' Science Identity Production.

Project description:Identity production is a complex process in which a person determines who he or she is via internal dialogue and sociocultural participation. Understanding identity production is important in biology education, because students' identities impact classroom experiences and their willingness to persist in the discipline. Thus, we suggest that educators foster spaces where students can engage in producing science identities that incorporate positive perceptions of who they are and what they have experienced. We used Holland's theory of identity and Urrieta's definitions of conceptual identity production (CIP) and procedural identity production (PIP) to explore the process of students' science identity production. We interviewed 26 students from five sections of a general biology course for majors at one higher education institution. The interview protocol included items about students' identities, influential experiences, perceptions of science, and perceptions of their classroom communities. From the interviews, we developed hierarchical coding schemes that focused on characterizing students' CIP and PIP. Here, we describe how students' socially constructed identities (race, gender, etc.) and their experiences may have impacted the production of their science identities. We found that authoring (i.e., making meaning of) experiences and recognition by others as a community member influenced students' science identity production.

| S-EPMC6812566 | biostudies-literature

The impact that cultural food security has on identity and well-being in the second-generation U.S. American minority college students.

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.

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Self-regulation and STEM persistence in minority and non-minority students across the first year of college.

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

Creating and Teaching Science Lessons in K-12 Schools Increases Undergraduate Students' Science Identity.

Project description:Success and persistence in the life sciences is influenced by a student's self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and science identity. It has already been demonstrated that outreach experiences and service learning by graduate students in K-12 schools aid in the graduate students' confidence and intrinsic satisfaction. Others have shown the importance of engaging scientists in outreach activities, both for the benefit of the K-12 student and as a way to engage scientists with the community. We predicted it would also be beneficial for undergraduates to engage in service-learning activities during their coursework because working with K-12 students would solidify their scientific identity and sense of belonging while deepening their understanding of the course content. Consequently, we implemented service projects in our upper-level molecular biology and human physiology courses at a primarily undergraduate institution that focuses on five core values: Christian, Liberal Arts, Excellence, Community, and Service. Outcomes such as the undergraduate students' value of service, confidence in their knowledge of course content, ability to create effective lesson plans, and science identity were measured using anonymous surveys. Overall, students reported that they highly valued and enjoyed this unique experience. This type of activity could be used to increase future scientists' awareness of synergistic activities such as academic service and of the joy found in such activities. Future plans include measuring the effects on the participating high school and elementary school students and visiting schools with a high proportion of students from underserved populations.

| S-EPMC6203625 | biostudies-literature

When Science Replaces Religion: Science as a Secular Authority Bolsters Moral Sensitivity.

Project description:Scientific and religious thinking compete with each other on several levels. For example, activating one generally weakens the other. Since priming religion is known to increase moral behaviour and moral sensitivity, priming science might be expected to have the opposite effect. However, it was recently demonstrated that, on the contrary, science priming increases moral sensitivity as well. The present set of studies sought to replicate this effect and test two explanations for it. Study 1 used a sentence unscrambling task for implicitly priming the concept of science but failed to replicate its effect on moral sensitivity, presumably due to a ceiling effect. Study 2 replicated the effect with a new measure of moral sensitivity. Study 3 tested whether science-related words create this effect by activating the idea of secular authority or by activating analytic thinking. It was demonstrated that words related to secular authority, but not words related to analytic thinking, produced a similar increase in moral sensitivity. Religiosity level of the participants did not influence this basic finding. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that science as a secular institution has overtaken some of the functions of religion in modern societies.

| S-EPMC4567326 | biostudies-literature

Variation in Suicide Risk among Subgroups of Sexual and Gender Minority College Students.

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

Evaluating the impact of sleep on genome-wide methylation levels in college students

Project description:Approximately 4 μg of DNA was isolated from blood of each of 16 subjects using the Qiagen DNEasy Blood and Tissue Kit. Of the 16 samples, 8 were from group 1 (CESD-H/TST-H; 5 female, 3 male) and 8 were from group 2 (CESD-H/TST-L; 5 female, 3 male). All DNA samples were confirmed to be of high purity (A260/280: 1.7-2.0). Pooled samples were prepared for each group by combining approximately 75 ng of DNA from each of the eight subjects. These two samples were submitted to the Yale Genomics Core for epigenome-wide methylation profiling using the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip, which measures the level of methylation β (a value ranging from 0 to 1, where 0 represents a completely unmethylated site and 1 a completely methylated site) at each of the 485,577 CpG sites on the array. Illumina’s GenomeStudio software was used to calculate the degree of differential methylation by group for each CpG site on the array, and FDR-adjusted p-values (Q-values) were calculated for each site in order to adjust for multiple comparisons. CESD=depression score; TST=sleep score

2016-08-01 | GSE80559 | GEO

Structure and Measurement Invariance of Ethnic Identity for Native American College Students.

Project description:With a specific focus on the Native American population, the current study investigated the structure of ethnic identity, measured by the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure, using a bifactor model across Native American (n = 307), Asian (n = 348), and White (n = 549) undergraduate students. We further investigated measurement invariance across ethnic groups that shared the same factor structure. The results indicated that ethnic identity can be modeled by a bifactor structure with a general factor and two group factors, affective pride and exploration, for Native American and Asian respondents but not White respondents. In addition, measurement invariance tests supported partial weak invariance between the Native American group and the Asian group. The current findings suggest that comparisons of ethnic identity scores across ethnic groups should be treated with caution.

| S-EPMC6677032 | biostudies-literature

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