Which STEM careers are most appealing? Examining high school students’ preferences and motivational beliefs for different STEM career choices

International Journal of STEM Education

Table 5 Gender and race/ethnicity differences in motivational reasons for selecting most-preferred STEM career path

Reasons for selecting most-preferred career	Black girls		White girls		Black boys		White boys		χ²	p
Reasons for selecting most-preferred career	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
I think this career would help me provide for my family.	79	48.50	33	50.00	50	45.50	28	62.20	3.71	0.464
I think this career would allow me to help others.	107	65.60	43	65.20	43	39.10	20	44.40	23.50	0.006
I think this career would pay well.	80	49.10	40	60.60	55	50.00	26	57.80	3.28	0.429
I think this career is respected and/or high status.	45	27.60	22	33.30	23	20.90	13	28.90	3.53	0.435
I think I would fit in at this career.	81	49.70	37	56.10	55	50.00	23	51.10	0.83	0.842
I think the day-to-day life of this career would be interesting.	70	42.90	46	69.70	31	28.20	19	42.20	29.01	0.011
I think this career sounds exciting.	70	42.90	36	54.50	40	36.40	21	46.70	5.76	0.227
I am passionate about topics related to this career.	70	42.90	39	59.10	29	26.40	17	37.80	19.15	0.004
I think I would do well at this career.	83	50.90	40	60.60	46	41.80	34	75.60	16.52	0.003
I think I could have a good work–life balance with this career.	53	32.50	22	33.30	30	27.30	18	40.00	2.53	0.518
I think this career does not require a lot of time or money to pursue.	8	4.90	6	9.10	9	8.20	7	15.60	5.83	0.264

Reasons for selecting least-preferred career	Black girls		White girls		Black boys		White boys		χ²	P
Reasons for selecting least-preferred career	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
I think this career would not help me provide for my family.	11	6.80	6	9.10	14	12.80	4	8.70	2.84	0.573
I think this career would not allow me to help others.	11	6.80	9	13.60	8	7.30	4	8.70	3.04	0.607
I think this career would not pay well.	11	6.80	5	7.60	10	9.20	3	6.50	0.60	0.987
I think this career is not respected and/or low status.	10	6.20	2	3.00	8	7.30	3	6.50	1.41	0.859
I do not think I would fit in at this career.	93	24.30	51	77.30	58	15.20	21	45.70	13.99	0.011
I think the day-to-day life of this career would be dull or boring.	29	18.00	24	36.40	27	24.80	20	43.50	16.33	0.006
I think this career sounds dull or boring.	58	36.00	32	48.50	38	34.90	24	52.20	7.09	0.127
I am not interested in topics related to this career.	75	46.60	37	56.10	39	35.80	18	39.10	7.75	0.114
I do not think I would do well at this career.	74	46.00	43	65.20	46	42.20	21	45.70	9.61	0.061
I do not think I could have a good work–life balance with this career.	18	11.20	9	13.60	14	12.80	5	10.90	0.40	0.941
I think this career is too expensive or time-consuming to pursue.	8	5.00	3	4.50	11	10.10	12	26.10	21.56	0.011

n = 384 students for most-appealing, 382 students for least-appealing. Adjusted p values shown as consistent with a correction for a familywise false discovery rate of .05 (Benjamini & Hochberg, 1995). Percentages shown are the percentages of students within a particular group who chose a particular reason