Men’s and Women’s Intentions to Persist in Undergraduate Engineering Degree Programs

Title: Men’s and Women’s Intentions to Persist in Undergraduate Engineering Degree Programs

Link: http://www.springerlink.com/content/f24057vm20023n56/

Summary: (abstract)

This is a quantitative study of 493 undergraduate engineering majors’ intentions to persist in their engineering program. Using a multiple analysis of variance analysis, men and women had one common predictor for their intentions to persist, engineering career outcome expectations. However, the best sociocognitive predictor for men’s persistence was not the same for women. Men’s persistence in undergraduate engineering was predicted by their abilities to complete the required coursework. Women’s persistence in undergraduate engineering depended upon their beliefs in getting good grades (A or a B). In brief, women’s intentions to persist in undergraduate engineering were dependent upon higher academic standards compared to men.

Why So Few Women in STEM

Title: Why So Few Women in STEM

Link: pdf (134 pages)

Summary:

Drawing on a large and diverse body of research, this report presents eight recent research
findings that provide evidence that social and environmental factors contribute to the underrepresentation of women in science and engineering. The rapid increase in the number of girls
achieving very high scores on mathematics tests once thought to measure innate ability suggests that cultural factors are at work. Thirty years ago there were 13 boys for every girl who
scored above 700 on the SAT math exam at age 13; today that ratio has shrunk to about 3:1.
This increase in the number of girls identified as “mathematically gifted” suggests that education can and does make a difference at the highest levels of mathematical achievement. While
biological gender differences, yet to be well understood, may play a role, they clearly are not
the whole story.

Exposure to Sexist Humor and Rape Proclivity: The Moderator Effect of Aversiveness Ratings

Title: Exposure to Sexist Humor and Rape Proclivity: The Moderator Effect of Aversiveness Ratings

Link: http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/25/12/2339.abstract

Summary: (abstract)

The aim of this study is to explore the effect of exposure to sexist humor about women on men’s self-reported rape proclivity. Earlier studies have shown that exposure to this type of humor increases rape proclivity and that funniness responses to jokes are a key element to consider. However, the role of aversiveness responses has not been studied. In a between-group design, 109 male university students are randomly exposed to sexist or nonsexist jokes. Participants are asked to rate the jokes according to their degree of funniness and aversiveness. Participants’ levels of hostile and benevolent sexism were also measured. Results about the relationship between sexist attitudes and sexist humor and the relationship between sexist attitudes and rape proclivity are consistent with those of earlier studies. However, exposure to sexist humor affects rape proclivity only when aversiveness shown to this type of humor is low. The results are discussed in the light of the prejudiced norm theory.