Introduction Why do some students maintain their career expectations in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), whereas others change their expectations? Using situated expectancy-value and social cognitive career theories, we sought to investigate the extent to which STEM support predicted changes in students' STEM career expectations during high school, and if these processes varied by whether the student had college educated or noncollege educated parents. Methods Using the nationally representative data set of the High School Longitudinal Study, we investigated the predictors of changes in US students' STEM career expectations from 9th to 11th grade (n = 13,100, 54% noncollege educated parents, 51% girls, 55% White, 21% Latinx, 12% Black). Results and Conclusions Students with noncollege educated parents were significantly more likely to change from STEM to non-STEM career expectations by 11th grade or to have stable non-STEM career expectations (compared to having stable STEM expectations or changing from non-STEM to STEM expectations). Additionally, students with noncollege educated parents were less likely to receive STEM support from parents and attend extracurricular activities compared to students with college educated parents. However, when examining the predictors among students with noncollege educated parents, students were more likely to maintain their expectations for a STEM career from 9th to 11th grade (compared to switching to a non-STEM career) if they had parental STEM support. Additionally, all students regardless of parents' level of education were more likely to maintain their expectations for a STEM career (vs. switching to a non-STEM career) through high school if they received teacher STEM support. Furthermore, students were more likely to develop STEM career expectations (vs. maintaining non-STEM career expectations) if they had parent STEM support. These findings highlight how parent and teacher STEM support may bolster STEM career expectations, particularly among students with noncollege educated parents.

STEM careers are among the fastest growing and highest paid occupations throughout the world. However, persistent social inequities in STEM domains emerge early for Black and Latinx adolescents, creating numerous barriers to their pursuit of STEM. Developmental and motivational theories highlight parents as a source of strength and support for students' STEM motivational beliefs. We conducted a systematic review of the existing work on parents' STEM socialization processes that shape Black and Latinx adolescents' STEM motivational beliefs. As part of this goal, we examined the variability within Black adolescents and within Latinx adolescents based on (a) other demographic factors (e.g., gender) and (b) racial/ethnic promotive and inhibitive factors (e.g., racism). The systematic literature search and eligibility screening yielded 36 relevant peer-reviewed, empirical journal articles published between January 2000 and January 2020. Overall, a majority of studies found support for positive relations between parents' STEM-specific support and adolescents' motivational beliefs among Black and Latinx families. Additionally, most studies included analyses within each racial/ethnic group, and about half of all articles included racial/ethnic promotive or inhibitive factors, such as familism or racism. In our discussion, we highlight an agenda for future research and discuss bridging theoretical perspectives to better position research to more accurately describe STEM motivation among youth from historically underrepresented groups.

Though one might imagine that traditional gender stereotypes about math have lessened over the years, this assumption remains to be tested. We know little about the extent to which parents' gender stereotypes about math abilities and their correlates have changed over time or the extent to which they replicate across research methods and racial/ethnic groups. To address these issues, we used four longitudinal U.S. datasets collected from 1984 to 2009 (n's = 537-14,470, 49-53% girls, 32-95% White, 1-59% Black, 0-22% Latinx) that included similar survey items. Across the datasets, parents believed that boys were better at math than girls. This was particularly consistent among White parents, where the small effects favoring boys replicated across all four datasets covering three decades. Compared to White parents, Black and Latinx parents were significantly less likely to favor boys. After controlling for parent education, income, and their child's math grade, parents' traditional gender stereotypes were significantly and negatively associated with girls' math self-concept, a small effect that replicated across all four datasets. These findings have implications for teachers and parents, as parents (particularly White parents) were significantly more likely to hold traditional math gender stereotypes, which relates to children's math self-concept.

The aim of this study was to use sociocultural perspectives to elaborate on Eccles' parent socialization model and create a culturally grounded, multidimensional model of parent support among Mexican-descent families. Given Latinx underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers, we focus on science as an important domain in which to study parent support. Using a qualitative approach, this study examines (a) what forms of parent science support do Mexican-descent parents and adolescents perceive as best practices and (b) what are the social, cultural, and contextual barriers parents face and in what ways do parents continue to support their adolescents in science in spite of those barriers? Seventy-four parent (mean age: 40 years; 23% U.S.-born and 77% Mexico-born) and 73 adolescent (mean age: 15 years; 41% female) nterviews were analyzed using inductive and deductive approaches. Findings suggest that parents use traditional and nontraditional culturally grounded forms of support: involvement at home, providing words of encouragement (e.g.,echale ganas), and leveraging resources (e.g., kin support). Participants felt work-related barriers, linguistic barriers, and limited science knowledge shaped parents' support. Results highlight the unique ways parents support their adolescents' science education as well as the need for educators to consider how parents' sociocultural experiences shape their support.

The racial/ethnic disparities and average declines in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) motivation during adolescence are worrisome. Although STEM motivational beliefs are theorized to function in conjunction with one another, the unique patterns and how they change over time for different racial/ethnic groups remain understudied. Using data from the High School Longitudinal Study (N = 18,260), we identified four and five patterns of math and science motivational beliefs in 9th and 11th grade, respectively, and examined their prevalence among Asian, Black, Latina/o, White, and Multiracial adolescents. We found patterns with overall high/low beliefs, patterns with varying levels of motivational beliefs, and patterns characterized by domain differentiation. Then, we charted the stability and changes in those patterns from 9th to 11th grade for each racial/ethnic group and how the patterns at 11th grade were associated with adolescents' STEM career expectations and high school math and science grade point averages.