Original scientific paper
The Role of Motivation and Gender Stereotypes in the Choice of Study in a Stereotypically Male Domain
Ivana Jugović
orcid.org/0000-0003-0362-0259
; Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The goal of this research is to explain gender differences in the choice of study in a stereotypically male education domain. Previous research has shown that women are underrepresented in the studies of engineering at university and adolescents hold stereotypical
feelings about careers in engineering and science, especially physics, as more appropriate for men. The intension of this research was to test the hypothesis of Eccles and her colleagues’ expectancy-value model regarding the factor structure of motivation for physics,
gender differences in motivation and stereotypes and the role of motivation and stereotypes when choosing the studies of physics. About 350 third grade high school students from Zagreb and Karlovac participated in the research (68.1% female students). Different aspects
of motivation (expectancy of success, self-perception of competence and subjective value of physics), stereotypes about physics and the intention to choose a course of study in which physics is important, were examined. The results confirmed the threefactor structure of subjective values, with the expected factors of interest, attainment value and perceived usefulness of physics. The items measuring
expectancy of success and self-perception of competence in physics formed one factor. These new scales had satisfactory validity and reliability. More boys than girls intended to choose studies related to physics and considered physics interesting and useful for further
education. Regression analyses showed that perception of physics as interesting and useful predicted stronger intentions to choose studies related to it. Rejection of stereotypes of physics as more useful for boys was connected with stronger intentions to choose engineering
or physics studies only on the sample of girls.
Keywords
expectancy-value model; gender stereotypes; choice of course of study; high school students
Hrčak ID:
55439
URI
Publication date:
7.7.2010.
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