Four factors explain students' sense of belonging in STEM, with interpersonal relationships the most commonly cited¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2018 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Coding of interview explanations yielded four themes—interpersonal relationships, competence, personal interest, and science identity; interpersonal relationships were the largest factor cited for positive belonging by every demographic group, and absence of interpersonal relationships was the most common reason majors and leavers gave for not belonging. → Katherine Rainey 2018

Evidence¶

Katherine Rainey 2018¶

Katherine Rainey, Melissa Dancy, Roslyn Mickelson, Elizabeth Stearns and Stephanie Moller. (2018). Race and gender differences in how sense of belonging influences decisions to major in STEM. International Journal of STEM Education 5:10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-018-0115-6

q2 · i? · qualitative · r3

Frequency counts of belonging-explanation codes from the interviews, shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The article reports "Interpersonal relationships were the largest factor cited for each demographic group" and that science identity was cited by only a small percent, with no significant differences between demographic groups.

"Interpersonal relationships were the largest factor cited for each demographic group, aligning with the literature (Strayhorn 2012). Competence was the second most commonly cited factor for majors' positive sense of belonging and was cited at similar frequencies for all demographic groups."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Students who remain in STEM majors report greater sense of belonging than leavers, and lack of science identity distinguishes leavers — related
• Teacher support is among the strongest predictors of school belonging — related
• Interpersonal relationships are the most prominent student concern in qualitative interviews (30.61% of coded responses) — related
• Belonging measures were typically validated on small, primarily White and middle-class samples without testing factor-structure differences by demographics — related
• Interpersonal relationships are framed as supports for motivation at school — related
• Interest and value were the dominant topics in leavers' explanations, especially among students leaving due to attraction — related