Frances-Denise Fajardo
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: Oral10RS
Session: Session 4 – 2:40pm – 3:30 pm
Room: Vandenberg
Authors: Frances-Denise Fajardo
Presenter: 1
Abstract
Existing literature has demonstrated that family members influence students’ education and career plans. For example, perceived parental support has been shown to impact career decisions among undergraduate Asian Americans; students tend to choose careers they feel their parents would approve of (Hui & Lent, 2018). However, the definition of family can be broadened beyond one’s parents to include other relatives. Thus, it is important to understand how extended family (i.e., family beyond parents and siblings that includes grandparents and other relatives) support as a whole may influence career plans (Meriam-Webster, 2018). In addition, another way family influences career development is how they shape one’s system of values and attitudes, and this differs across racial and ethnic groups. Thus, it is important to see how career plans are affected by racial/ethnic socialization (RES)—how explicit and implicit messages (e.g., dealing with racism, racial pride, or the meaning of race or racial/cultural identity) are taught to children (American Psychological Association, 2018). Since it is known that Asian Americans tend to place greater emphasis on achieving STEM careers, I decided to focus on STEM majors in my analysis, specifically biomedical/behavioral science majors versus other basic/applied science majors. My analysis served to answer the following research questions: What is the relationship between RES and education/career plans? What is the relationship between extended family support and education/career plans? Do students in the biomedical/behavioral sciences vs those in other basic or applied sciences differ in terms of RES and extended family support? I conducted a secondary analysis of survey data from non-white undergraduate student applicants to the Big Ten Academic Alliance Summer Research Opportunities Program (BTAA-SROP). My sample focused on biomedical/behavioral science majors and other basic/applied science majors. In my sample, 78.9% were African American, 16.7% were Asian American, 3.4% were American Indian or Alaskan Native, and 1.1% were Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. My analysis used data from two time points: the summer of 2011 (Time 1 – beginning of the program) and the summer of 2012 (Time 2 – a year later). The demographic variables (race and major) were collected at Time 1 as well as the predictors (RES and extended family support). The outcome variables (interest in PhD career or research career) were measured at Time 2. My first set of analyses examines if RES and extended family support, are related to education and career plans. Contrary to my expectations, significant negative correlations between the entire extended family support and the bloodkin family (grandparents, aunt/uncle, cousins) support subscale and pursuing a PhD were found only for biomedical/behavioral science students. The analyses suggest that the more a student believes their entire extended family or bloodkin family supports their pursuit in a PhD, the less certain they will be to actually pursue one. In addition, RES does not seem to affect education and career plans.There were no significant correlations between RES and education and career plans. The second set of analyses examines possible differences in the predictor and outcome variables by students’ major. These t-tests revealed that there were no statistically significant differences between biomedical/behavioral science majors and other basic/applied science majors in terms of RES, extended family support, and PhD plans. However, other basic/applied science majors were more interested in pursuing STEM-related research careers than biomedical/behavioral science majors. My findings indicate that in this sample of students, extended family support but not racial ethnic socialization, plays a role in impacting students’ career decisions. Future research can seek ways to change how students designate the importance of different criteria in selecting careers so that they feel less pressure to pursue something they truly want to pursue. In terms of limitations, there was a lack of diversity among the minority sample I studied. Since cultural norms differ between each minority group, perhaps future research should focus on each racial group individually to assess the effects of RES and extended family support on education and career plans. In addition, perhaps it is too specific to ask students about their interest in pursuing a post-baccalaureate degree in their respective undergraduate major. Thus, future research can ask students of their interest in other careers besides a PhD or a research career such as a career in medicine, law, public health, etc.
Interdisciplinary, Social Sciences
