McGuire Luke, Marlow Christina, Hoffman Adam J, Joy Angelina, Law Fidelia, Hartstone-Rose Adam, Rutland Adam, Winterbottom Mark, Balkwill Frances, Burns Karen P, Butler Laurence, Fields Grace, Mulvey Kelly Lynn
University of Exeter Exeter UK.
North Carolina State University Raleigh USA.
Soc Dev. 2024 Feb;33(1):e12710. doi: 10.1111/sode.12710. Epub 2023 Sep 22.
The fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are rife with inequalities and under-representation that have their roots in childhood. While researchers have focused on gender and race/ethnicity as two key dimensions of inequality, less attention has been paid to wealth. To this end, and drawing from the Social Reasoning Development approach, we examined children's and adolescents' perceptions of STEM ability and access to opportunities as a function of wealth, as well as their desire to rectify such inequalities. Participants ( = 234: early childhood, = 70, mean age = 6.33, SD = .79; middle childhood, = 92, mean age = 8.90, SD = .83 and early adolescence, = 62, mean age = 12.00; SD = 1.16) in the U.K. (64% White British) and U.S. (40% White/European American) read about two characters, one high-wealth and one low-wealth. In early childhood, participants reported that the high-wealth character would have greater STEM ability and were just as likely to invite either character to take part in a STEM opportunity. By middle childhood, participants were more likely to report equal STEM abilities for both characters and to seek to rectify inequalities by inviting the low-wealth character to take part in a STEM opportunity. However, older participants reported that peers would still prefer to invite the high-wealth character. These findings also varied by ethnic group status, with minority status participants rectifying inequalities at a younger age than majority status participants. Together these findings document that children are aware of STEM inequalities based on wealth and, with age, will increasingly seek to rectify these inequalities.
科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域存在着诸多不平等现象，且代表性不足，这些问题可追溯到童年时期。虽然研究人员将性别和种族/族裔视为不平等的两个关键维度，但对财富的关注较少。为此，我们借鉴社会推理发展方法，研究了儿童和青少年对STEM能力以及获得机会的认知如何因财富而异，以及他们纠正此类不平等现象的意愿。参与者（N = 234：幼儿期，n = 70，平均年龄 = 6.33，标准差 = 0.79；童年中期，n = 92，平均年龄 = 8.90，标准差 = 0.83；青少年早期，n = 62，平均年龄 = 12.00；标准差 = 1.16）来自英国（64%为英国白人）和美国（40%为白人/欧裔美国人），他们阅读了关于两个角色的故事，一个是高财富角色，一个是低财富角色。在幼儿期，参与者报告说高财富角色的STEM能力更强，并且邀请两个角色参与STEM机会的可能性相同。到了童年中期，参与者更倾向于认为两个角色的STEM能力相当，并试图通过邀请低财富角色参与STEM机会来纠正不平等现象。然而，年龄较大的参与者报告说，同龄人仍然更愿意邀请高财富角色。这些发现也因种族群体地位而异，少数族裔地位的参与者比多数族裔地位的参与者更早地纠正不平等现象。这些发现共同表明，儿童意识到了基于财富的STEM不平等现象，并且随着年龄的增长，他们将越来越多地寻求纠正这些不平等现象。
