Gender differences in high school students’ interest in STEM careers: a multi-group comparison based on structural equation model

International Journal of STEM Education

Table 7 The direct and indirect effects test for full sample, male and female

Path	Full sample			Male			Female			C.R
	β	Bootstrap 95% CI		β	Bootstrap 95% CI		β	Bootstrap 95% CI
	β	Lower	Upper	β	Lower	Upper	β	Lower	Upper
Direct effects
EF → SSE	0.858^***			0.842^***			0.872^***			1.241
EF → SCP	0.290^***			0.413^***			0.013			− 2.078^*
SSE → ISC	0.408^***			0.360^***			0.386^***			0.800
SSE → SCP	0.228^**			0.154			0.474^***			1.987^*
SCP → ISC	0.320^***			0.401^***			0.275^***			− 1.680
Indirect effects
EF → SSE → ISC	0.350^**	0.281	0.420	0.303^***	0.201	0.408	0.337^***	0.243	0.439
EF → SCP → ISC	0.093^*	0.019	0.184	0.166^**	0.051	0.310	0.004	− .077	0.127
EF → SSE → SCP → ISC	0.063^*	0.005	0.114	0.052	− 0.039	0.128	0.113^**	0.046	0.195
Total effects	0.506^***	0.450	0.561	0.521^***	0.438	0.598	0.454^***	0.375	0.530

C.R. critical ratios for differences between parameters, EF environmental factors, SSE STEM self-efficacy, SCP STEM careers perceptions, ISC interest in STEM careers
^***p < 0.001, ^**p < 0.01, ^*p < 0.05