Children as young as seven begin to internalize stereotypes about who is more or less likely to pursue occupations related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) - beliefs that may influence career choices as they approach adulthood, according to a new child psychology study.
University of Alberta psychologist Katherine Luken Raz and their team found that most children believe their female peers are more likely to grow up to be doctors than scientists, but girls are more likely than boys to expect that their female peers could grow up to be either scientists or doctors.
Luken Raz and their collaborators at the University of Maryland's Developing Inclusive Youth program - a program designed to facilitate children's understanding of fairness, equity and mutual respect in peer relationships - surveyed 842 children between the ages of seven and 12 from different racial-ethnic backgrounds. The students were asked about the likelihood that their peers would one day take up STEM-related occupations.
"Expectations about who will pursue and engage in STEM occupations reveal potential biases that might translate into exclusion of participation from STEM-related activities in childhood," say the study's authors.
"Parents and teachers need to really emphasize that all children are welcome in STEM spaces, and they need to promote explicit, proactive messages starting in elementary school."
Previous studies have shown that interest in STEM subjects drops dramatically beginning in elementary school, especially among marginalized students from under-represented racial-ethnic backgrounds. One reason for that, says Luken Raz, could be standardized testing, which limits a teacher's ability to nurture motivation through more creative approaches.
"When teachers have to do a lot of these standardized tests, it really shifts their teaching," says Luken Raz. "As early as third or fourth grade, they have to focus on outcomes and think less creatively about nurturing a child's intrinsic motivation. For other non-STEM subjects - such as art or writing - there might be greater flexibility."
By the time students reach junior high, girls may see themselves as less likely to pursue careers involving science.
"By middle and high school, girls don't really see themselves as scientists, or as being accepted in a STEM context. That starts to impact what classes they choose, and then what they choose for their undergrad."
Parents' STEM anxieties can also have a negative influence on children's occupational expectations, says Luken Raz, especially if they have anxiety about their own STEM skills while trying to help their children with homework.
Luken Raz notes that one reason children may believe in the higher likelihood of their peers becoming doctors could be exposure to a greater number of role models. In most cases they are less exposed to scientists in their own lives.
"Children see doctors and nurses, and a lot of times those tend to be women," says Luken Raz. "This also overlaps with a lot of stereotypes about the caregiving professions - that women are more equipped to do that."
But as Luken Raz notes, the research findings suggest that girls seem to be exposed to enough role models connected to STEM that "they don't seem to be internalizing those stereotypes quite as much as boys."
The main takeaway of the study, Luken Raz adds, is that by the ages of seven and eight, "children are thinking about these stereotypes and how they apply to their whole lifespan."
