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Review
. 2017 May 26:8:716.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00716. eCollection 2017.

Adolescent Girls' STEM Identity Formation and Media Images of STEM Professionals: Considering the Influence of Contextual Cues

Jocelyn Steinke  1
Affiliations
Review

Adolescent Girls' STEM Identity Formation and Media Images of STEM Professionals: Considering the Influence of Contextual Cues

Jocelyn Steinke. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Popular media have played a crucial role in the construction, representation, reproduction, and transmission of stereotypes of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals, yet little is known about how these stereotypes influence STEM identity formation. Media images of STEM professionals may be important sources of information about STEM and may be particularly salient and relevant for girls during adolescence as they actively consider future personal and professional identities. This article describes gender-stereotyped media images of STEM professionals and examines theories to identify variables that explain the potential influence of these images on STEM identity formation. Understanding these variables is important for expanding current conceptual frameworks of science/STEM identity to better determine how and when cues in the broader sociocultural context may affect adolescent girls' STEM identity. This article emphasizes the importance of focusing on STEMidentity relevant variables and STEM identity status to explain individual differences in STEM identity formation.

Keywords: STEM stereotypes; media images; perceptions of scientists; science/STEM identity formation.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Science identity status based on Marcia’s (1980) identity status theory.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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