Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Child Dev. 2012 May-Jun;83(3):896-910. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01744.x. Epub 2012 Apr 17.
This short-term longitudinal study examined (a) adolescents' contact with mentors who share their background in relation to the importance they place on having such mentors, and (b) the associations of these perceptions with self-efficacy, identity, and commitment to a science career. Participants were 265 ethnically diverse adolescents (M age = 15.82) attending a 4-week science education program. Cluster analyses indicated that at Time 1, underrepresented ethnic minorities were more often in the cluster defined by feelings of importance of having a matched-background mentor but not having much contact. Perceptions of contact increased over time for these students and were associated with increased feelings of identity as a science student. The results suggest the need for attending to individual differences in students' preferences for matched-background mentors.
本短期纵向研究考察了（a）青少年与在背景方面与他们相似的导师的接触程度，以及他们对这些导师的重视程度；以及（b）这些看法与自我效能感、身份认同以及对科学职业的投入之间的关联。参与者是 265 名来自不同种族的青少年（平均年龄=15.82 岁），他们参加了为期 4 周的科学教育项目。聚类分析表明，在第 1 次测试时，代表性不足的少数族裔学生更多地属于那种虽然觉得有必要找一位背景相似的导师，但实际接触较少的群体。这些学生的接触感随着时间的推移而增加，并与作为科学学生的身份认同感增强相关。研究结果表明，需要关注学生对背景相似导师的偏好的个体差异。
