Children's math and science beliefs about underrepresented peers are related to STEM occupation expectations

Children's interest and motivation in math and science decline dramatically beginning as early as elementary school (K-5). This is especially true for marginalized students, such as girls and children from underrepresented racial-ethnic minority (URM) backgrounds. Understanding the relation between children's STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) competence beliefs and STEM occupation expectations provides a basis for timely and targeted intervention. This association is crucial because expectations about who will pursue and engage in STEM occupations reveals potential biases that might translate into exclusion of participation from STEM-related activities in childhood. To examine this topic, a survey was administered to N = 842 children ages 7-12 years from different racial-ethnic backgrounds in the suburbs of a large Mid-Atlantic city. As hypothesized, we found that math and science competence beliefs about girls predicted children's expectation that a girl, rather than a boy, would grow up to be a scientist and a doctor. Further, math and science competency beliefs about URM peers predicted children's expectation that a Black or Latine child would grow up to be a doctor, though these beliefs were not related to their expectations that a Black or Latine child would grow up to be a scientist. Additionally, participants were more likely to expect a girl to grow up to be a doctor than to be a scientist. The effects of participant age, gender, and race were also investigated. These findings contribute to understanding how best to broaden participation in math and science fields for all children.