Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America.
Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2024 Apr 9;19(4):e0294276. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294276. eCollection 2024.
Past research has shown that growth mindset and motivational beliefs have an important role in math and science career interest in adolescence. Drawing on situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT), this study extends these findings by investigating the role of parental motivational beliefs (e.g., expectancy beliefs, utility values) and parent growth mindset in math on adolescent career interest in math-intensive fields (e.g., mathematics, computer science, statistics, and engineering; MCSE) through adolescent motivational beliefs in math. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model using data from 290 adolescents (201 girls, 69.3%; Mage = 15.20), who participate in informal STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) youth programs, and their parents (162 parents, 87.7% female) in the United Kingdom and the United States. As hypothesized, adolescent expectancy beliefs, utility values, and growth mindset in math had a significant direct effect on MCSE career interest. Further, there was a significant indirect effect of parental expectancy beliefs in math on MCSE career interest through adolescents' expectancy beliefs. Similarly, there was a significant indirect effect from parental utility values in math to MCSE career interest through adolescents' utility values. The findings suggest that parents' math motivational beliefs play a critical role in adolescent math motivational beliefs and their career interest in math-intensive fields.
过去的研究表明,成长型思维和动机信念在青少年的数学和科学职业兴趣中起着重要作用。本研究借鉴情境期望价值理论(SEVT),通过调查父母的动机信念(例如,期望信念、实用价值)和父母的成长型思维在数学方面对青少年数学职业兴趣的影响,进一步探讨了这些发现。通过青少年在数学方面的动机信念,研究了这些因素对数学密集型领域(例如数学、计算机科学、统计学和工程学;MCSE)的职业兴趣的影响。结构方程模型使用来自英国和美国的 290 名青少年(201 名女孩,69.3%;Mage=15.20)及其父母(162 名父母,87.7%为女性)的数据来测试假设模型。研究假设,青少年在数学方面的期望信念、实用价值和成长型思维对 MCSE 职业兴趣有显著的直接影响。此外,父母在数学方面的期望信念对青少年的期望信念对 MCSE 职业兴趣有显著的间接影响。同样,父母在数学方面的实用价值对青少年的实用价值对 MCSE 职业兴趣也有显著的间接影响。研究结果表明,父母的数学动机信念在青少年的数学动机信念及其对数学密集型领域的职业兴趣中起着关键作用。