Introduction The United States struggles with racial/ethnic disparities in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) degrees and occupations. According to situated expectancy-value theory, the experience and knowledge parents gain through STEM degrees and occupations shape the STEM support they provide and relatedly their adolescents' STEM motivational beliefs. Methods We analyzed data from the High School Longitudinal Study (N = 14,000; 50% female; Mage = 14 years old at 9th grade), which is a recent U.S. data set that surveyed a nationally representative sample of adolescents. Results and Conclusions Results showed that parent STEM support in 9th grade and adolescent STEM motivational beliefs in 11th grade were lower in families where parents did not have a STEM degree/occupation than in families where at least one parent had a STEM degree/occupation. Our within-group analyses suggested that parents' STEM support was generally positively related to adolescents' STEM motivational beliefs among families where parents did not have a STEM degree/occupation for all racial/ethnic groups except Black adolescents. However, these relations were not significant among adolescents who had a parent STEM degree/occupation. Furthermore, although Asian and White adolescents' parents were more likely to hold a STEM degree/occupation than Latina/o and Black adolescents' parents, the associations between parent STEM support and adolescents' STEM motivational beliefs emerged for Asian, Latina/o, and White adolescents.

This longitudinal study explores three research questions. First, what is the prevalence of math and science gender stereotypes among high school students, their parents, and teachers? Second, are parents' and teachers' gender stereotypes related to adolescents' stereotypes? And third, are adolescents' gender stereotypes associated with their math and science identity and outcomes? We used a nationally representative U.S. sample (N = 22,190, 50% girls, 53% White, 22% Latinx, 13% Black) of adolescents surveyed at 9th and 11th grade, their parents, and teachers. Adolescents' transcripts were also collected at the end of high school. Adolescent gender stereotypes became significantly more traditional from 9 to 11th grade. Parents were three times more likely to believe that males are better at math/science (compared to believing females are better), and we found significant positive relations between parents' and adolescents' stereotypes. Finally, adolescents' math/science gender stereotypes were significantly related to their math/science identity, which in turn was related to their STEM outcomes over the course of high school. Our findings give insight to the development of academic gender stereotypes in adolescence, their potential precursors, and their relations to academic outcomes.

Although previous literature indicates that parents and siblings each provide key support for Latinx adolescents' academic success, most studies have not considered how parents and siblings work as a system to support adolescents in science. Informed by theories on family systems and family influence on youth's achievement and education, this study aimed to (a) identify what Latinx adolescents believed were the most helpful ways that parents and siblings supported them in science, and (b) explore whether family science support varied based on parents' science education. Using a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews from 90 Latinx adolescents (mean age = 15.54 years; 38% girls; 84% born in the U.S.) were analyzed using inductive and deductive approaches. We found that parents and siblings supported Latinx adolescents in science through various home-based strategies: active engagement (classwork help and monitoring), academic socialization (encouragement, conversations about the future, and advice) and providing resources (material and social resources). Adolescents mentioned their older siblings were particularly helpful in providing class-specific support based on the science classes that they had previously taken. Additionally, our findings suggest that siblings relied more on classwork help from only older siblings in families where parents did not take any high school science classes compared to families where parents took some high school science classes. Overall, this study highlights the complementary science support that parents and siblings provide Latinx adolescents and the valuable role that siblings can play in Latinx families when parents have limited science education.

Introduction: Experiencing low support from teachers can be associated with low academic achievement. Nonetheless, individual- (i.e., ability self-concepts) and contextual-level (i.e., parental support) protective factors may help adolescents to display academic resilience. This study examined whether high school students? math ability self-concepts and parental support can mitigate the possible negative association between perceived low math teacher support and their math achievement. Method: Correlational data were drawn from the High School Longitudinal Study (N = 14,580, Mage =17.42 in 11th grade, 51% female), a nationally representative study of high school students in the U.S. The measures of protective factors (i.e., math ability self-concepts and parental support) were obtained from the surveys administered to students and parents in 9th grade. Students? perceived teacher support and their math achievement score were measured in 11th grade. A series of linear regression analyses were estimated to test our hypotheses. Results & Conclusions: Perceived low teacher support was negatively associated with adolescents? math achievement. Adolescents? math ability self-concepts were directly and positively associated with their math achievement. The interaction between perceived low teacher support and ability self-concepts in predicting adolescents? achievement varied by parental support. The association between perceived low teacher support and adolescents? math achievement was not statistically significant when adolescents were high on one of the protective factors. That is, high parental support may be protective for adolescents with low math ability self-concepts. This study highlights the interaction between adolescents? academic motivation and parental support in demonstrating resilience to perceived low teacher support.

Individuals' math motivational beliefs are theorized to shape their STEM achievement and engagement in high school and beyond. Combining situated expectancy-value theory and intersectionality framework, the goals of this study were to (a) identify the unique patterns of U.S. high school students' math motivational beliefs, (b) examine differences in the patterns based on the intersection of gender and race/ethnicity, and (c) test the extent to which these patterns predicted differences in students' math achievement and classroom behavioral engagement for each of the gender by racial/ethnic groups. The current study included 16,120 high schoolers (50% female; 63% White, 17% Latina/o, 11% Black, and 9% Asian Americans; Mage = 14.46 at Grade 9) from the High School Longitudinal Study. There were six unique patterns of students' math motivational beliefs: Overall High, Above Average but not Identified, Identified but Average Value, Average, Low Identity, and Overall Low. Pattern membership at the intersection of gender and race/ethnicity showed nuances that could not be represented by gender or race/ethnicity alone; for example, male and female Asian American adolescents had similar patterns, but many male and female adolescents of other racial/ethnic groups had different patterns. Adolescents' math motivational belief patterns were associated with their Grade 11 math achievement and behavioral engagement even after controlling for prior math achievement and family socioeconomic status, and the associated varied by the gender and racial/ethnic groups.

Though adolescents' science identity beliefs predict positive STEM outcomes, researchers have yet to examine developmental differences within racial/ethnic groups despite theoretical arguments for such studies. The current study examined science identity trajectories for Black (14%), Latinx (22%), Asian (4%), and White (52%) students (N = 21,170; 50% girls) from 9(th) grade to three years post-high school and the variability within each racial/ethnic group based on gender and college generational status. Contrary to the literature, students' science identities increased over time, and the increases were larger for potential first- versus continuing-generation White students. Potential continuing-generation boys had stronger 9(th) grade science identities than potential first-generation girls in all groups except Asians. The findings suggest who might benefit from additional supports within each racial/ethnic group.

Math and science motivational beliefs are essential in understanding students' science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) achievement and choices in high school and college. Drawing on the Eccles' expectancy-value theory and Arnett's emerging adulthood framework, this study examined the relations among high school students' motivational beliefs in ninth grade and their STEM course taking and grade point average (GPA) throughout high school as well as their STEM major choice in college. In addition, we examined subgroup differences across (a) gender and (b) college generation status by testing mean-level differences as well as whether these relations between math and science motivational beliefs and STEM outcomes varied by gender and college generation status. Using nationally representative data from the High School Longitudinal Study (N = 14,040; M-age = 14; 51% female students), this study found that adolescents' math and science motivational beliefs at the beginning of high school were positively associated with STEM achievement and course taking throughout high school and college major choices 7 years later. The results showed that female and first-generation college students had lower math and science self-concept of ability and were less likely to pursue a STEM major in college. However, in most cases, the relations among indicators did not vary by gender and college generation status. This study provided insights for policymakers and practitioners that gender and college generation gaps in STEM are evident at least by the beginning of high school and carry forward to their STEM college choices.

High school underrepresented minority students in the US are at an increased risk of dropping out of the STEM pipeline. Based on expectancy-value theory, we examined if Latino students? perception of support from parents, siblings/cousins, teachers, and friends in 10th grade predicted their science ability self-concepts and values, which in turn predicted their classroom engagement. Survey data were collected from 104 Latino high school students and their science teachers. The findings suggest that adolescents? perceptions of overall support and home-based support predicted adolescents? science ability self-concepts at 10th grade while controlling for their 9th grade self-concepts. Although adolescents reported high support from teachers, teacher or school-based support alone was not a strong correlate of their motivational beliefs. Perceived support was indirectly related to classroom engagement through adolescents? ability self-concepts. Feeling supported across home and school may be necessary to sustain adolescents? science motivational beliefs and, in turn, their science classroom engagement.

This study explores ways to support girls of color in forming their senses of selves in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) during the middle school years. Guided by social practice theory, we analyzed a large data set of survey responses ( n = 1,821) collected at five middle schools in low‐income communities across four states in the United States. Analyses focus on the extent to which key constructs that inform girls’ development of senses of self and relations among those indicators of STEM identities varied by their race/ethnicity. Though the means of indicators sometimes varied across racial/ethnic groups, multigroup structural equation modeling analyses indicate no significant racial/ethnic differences in the relations of STEM identities, suggesting that similar supports would be equally effective for all girls during the middle school years. Girls’ self‐perception in relation to science was the strongest predictor of their identification with STEM‐related careers, and this self‐perception was positively and distinctively associated with their experiences with science at home, outside of school, and in school science classes. This study argues for strategically expanding girls’ experiences with science across multiple settings during middle school in a way that increases their positive self‐perception in and with STEM.