Ella Lacy
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Angela Ebreo
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Diversity Research & Policy Program / Education
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Session 4 – 2:40pm – 3:30 pm
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Ella Lacy
Presenter: 1
Abstract
Social cognitive career theory was developed to explain how educational and career choices are made and is frequently used in studies of students’ career-related outcomes (Lent et al., 2018). This theory states that self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations are related to students’ academic interests, career choices, career success, and more (Lent et al., 2018). Self-efficacy is defined as the belief in one’s abilities to perform specific activities or behaviors (Sheu et al., 2018). While many studies examine the relationship between self-efficacy and student outcomes, less attention has been given to the factors that lead to self-efficacy (i.e., mastery experience, vicarious learning, verbal persuasion, and affective state). A recent review by Sheu et al. (2018) found that self-efficacy is predictive of future academic and career success. The review briefly mentions the four precursors to self-efficacy but largely focuses on the applications of self-efficacy. My review dives deeper into these predictive factors and discusses how self-efficacy builds in STEM students, in particular, with this question in mind: what factors lead to self-efficacy in STEM students? I conducted a focused literature review by compiling recently published articles in five databases. I used the following search terms: “STEM or science or technology or engineering or mathematics”, “college students or university students or undergraduates”, “social-cognitive-career-theory or SCCT” to identify articles. My search was limited to peer reviewed articles published in English, after 2017. I also excluded dissertations. I narrowed my findings to 21 articles and used the following guiding question to determine relevance: Does this article address the factors that lead to self-efficacy itself or how self-efficacy is applied? All four hypothesized precursors – mastery experience, verbal persuasion, vicarious learning, and affective state – have an overwhelmingly positive relationship with the development of self-efficacy. While all precursors play a role, mastery experience and verbal persuasion may be more effective in increasing self-efficacy, as they were more frequently mentioned throughout the literature. The findings will be discussed in terms of their implications for practitioners (student advisors, career counselors) who work with STEM students as well as their relevance to social-cognitive career theory.
Interdisciplinary, Social Sciences
