There is increasing evidence that the family plays a critical role in the development of students’ interests and career aspirations (e.g., Howard & Reynolds, 2008; Johnson & Hull, 2014). Within science education, researchers are showing that family engagement with science is linked to students’ perception of science as a future career (e.g., Author, 2021). To better understand how family engagement influences the career aspirations of youth, the present study examined factors that are related to parents’ perception of the future value of science. By understanding how parents’ perceptions of science, we can design and build more effective educational programs to enhance interest and engagement with science.

Researchers have shown that parent involvement in education and youth can contribute to higher school achievement (Lee, 1993; Sui-Chu & Willms, 1996), fewer behavioral problems at school (Lee, 1993), lower dropout rates (McNeal, 1999), higher grades in school (Muller, 1993) and enhanced aspirations to attend college (Cabrera, & La Nasa, 2000). Understanding the influences of the family on career interests and aspirations is particularly crucial in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) where there are significant discrepancies in course enrollment and career aspirations for many minority groups (National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2017). However, there is limited research that examines how family engagement and attitudes in STEM influence students’ interests (e.g., Aschbacher et al., 2010; Ferry et al, 2000; Gilmartin et al, 2006).

Archer et al., (2012) applied the concepts of science capital and family habitus (“the ways and settings in which families operate… [that] encompass[es] values and everyday practices” p. 886) to measure factors that were associated with youth science aspirations. They found that the attitudes of the parents were key to the formation of youth’s science career aspirations. A study by Maltese and Cooper (2017) reported that when parents were involved in STEM-related experiences, their children were more likely to choose a STEM field than students whose parents were not involved. The influence of parental beliefs and expectations on the development of interests and career aspirations is an understudied area and this study begins to fill this gap by proposing a new tool to assess parental experiences, expectations for their child, and science achievement value.

A recent study (Author, 2021) used expectancy value theory to examine factors that are influential in the career aspirations of youth. This study found exposure to STEM practitioners, tool access, and STEM experiences were associated with higher science achievement value and perceptions of family science achievement value. The study found evidence that a student’s perception of the value the family places on science was a key factor in determining interests and career goals. These findings led us to develop the assessment described here to measure parents’ science capital (access to experiences and science-related tools) and the family habitus for science (the degree to which the family sees science as something they do).

Research Question

            In the previous studies described above we developed and validated assessments (NextGen Scientist Survey) to measure expectancy value factors for elementary and middle school youth (Author 2020; 2021). The present study builds on these assessments with the development of a new parallel version that investigates these factors with parents. The research question explored in this study was: What is the factorial structure of the NextGen Scientist Survey- Parents?  Being able to assess the expectancy value factors for parents and youth can inform the field about how parent’s values and expectations are related to those held by their children. Furthermore, this assessment documents science capital and family habitus variables that can contribute to expectancy values.

In order to examine the structure of the survey we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the data. The constructs for the survey were congruent with the research literature on expectancy value, science capital, and family habitus. Data Sources The parent version of The NextGen Scientist Survey was designed to be a parallel version of the previously validated NextGen Scientist Survey Middle School (Author A) and the NextGen Scientist Survey Elementary (Author B). The final survey was established after review by an expert panel and a pilot study with 5 parents. The final NextGen Science Survey- Parents, consists of 39 items that are assessed on a 5-point Likert scale for the degree to which the respondent identifies with science and has self-efficacy for science (12 items), sees STEM as a future career for their child (4 items), along with whether or not they had experiences with science as a child (4 items), childhood career considerations (3 items), science communication experiences (7 items), active science experiences as an adult (5 items), and science tool experiences (4 items) (see Table 2 for items). The Sample and Descriptive Statistics Parent participants were contacted at afterschool programs sponsored by a non-profit group for youth in grades 3-5 who are from underserved groups located in several communities in a southeastern state of the US. The participants identified as 17.7% female, 81.6 % male, 53.4% White, 33.9% Black, 6.1% Hispanic, 1.4% Asian, and 5.1% Other race/ethnicity. The parents indicated they lived in rural (39.4%), suburban (35.0%), and urban (25.3%) areas.

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) resulted in a 7-factor solution that best fit the data (see Strijbos et al., 2021). The n=275; A/C 24709.85; B/C 25223.43; X2= 1276.85; df=677; CFI=0.902; RMSEA= 0.057; SRMR= 0.056. RMSEA and SRMR are within the desired boundary. CFI has an adequate fit value . The seven factors show acceptable to good reliability with Cronbach's α between .629 ≤ αt ≤ .935. Item to factor loadings and fit indices were satisfactory. The CFA shows that the NextGen Scientist Survey- Parents has seven correlated factors that have been shown to influence future task value for science. The instrument allows for the measurement of self-efficacy and academic identity (Science Achievement Value), parent perceptions of future career options for their child (Future Science Task Value for My Child), measures of prior childhood experiences (Childhood Science Experiences), careers the parent considered when a child (Childhood Science Experiences), experiences reading and discussing science (Science Communication Experiences) and finally, the scales Active Science Experiences and Science Tool Experiences assessed the parent’s experiences with science as well as using science-related materials. All of these items assess elements of science capital that have been shown to contribute to career aspirations and interest in science (Archer et al., 2012). This study demonstrates that we can reliably measure components of science capital and family habitus that contribute to interests and career aspirations for science. This session will engage researchers in considering how to use this type of assessment in designing more effective educational programs as well as thinking about ways to honor cultural capital while building social capital. With the growing recognition of the role of the family in the development of interests and career aspirations this instrument can open up new studies to examine different factors related to the development of youth and parental expectations over time.

Archer, L., DeWitt, J., Osborne, J., Dillon, J., Willis, B., & Wong, B. (2012). Science aspirations, capital and family habitus: How families shape children's engagement and identification with science. American Educational Research Journal, 49(5), 881–908. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831211433290 Aschbacher, P. R., Li, E., & Roth, E. J. (2010). Is science me? High school students’ identities, participation, and aspirations in science, engineering, and medicine. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 47(5), 564–582. Cabrera, A. F., & La Nasa, S. M. (2000). Overcoming the tasks on the path to college for America's disadvantaged. New directions for institutional research, 2000(107), 31-43. Ferry, T. R., Fouad, N., & Smith, P. (2000). The roles of family contest in a social cognitive model for career-related choice behavior: A math and science perspective. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 57, 348-364. Howard, T. C., & Reynolds, R. (2008). Examining parent involvement in reversing the underachievement of African American students in middle-class schools. Educational Foundations, 22, 79-98. Johnson, U. Y., & Hull, D. M. (2014). Parent involvement and science achievement: A cross-classified multilevel latent growth curve analysis. The Journal of Educational Research, 107(5), 399-409. Lee, S. A. (1993). Family structure effects on student outcomes. In B. Schneider & J. S. Coleman (Eds.), Parents, their children, and school (pp. 43 –75). Boulder, CO: Westview Press. National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. (2017). Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2017. Special Report NSF 17–310. Arlington, VA. www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/. Maltese, A. V., & Cooper, C. S. (2017). STEM pathways: do men and women differ in why they enter and exit? AERA Open, 3(3), 1–16. McNeal Jr, R. B. (1999). Parental involvement as social capital: Differential effectiveness on science achievement, truancy, and dropping out. Social forces, 78(1), 117-144. Muller, C. (1993). Parent involvement and academic achievement: An analysis of family resources available to the child. In B. Schneider & J. S. Coleman (Eds.), Parents, their children, and school (pp. 77–113). Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Plasman, J. S., Gottfried, M., & Williams, D. (2021). Following in their Footsteps: the Relationship Between Parent STEM Occupation and Student STEM Course taking in High School. Journal for STEM Education Research, 4(1), 27-46. Strijbos, W., Pat-El, R., & Narciss, S. (2021). Structural validity and invariance of the feedback perceptions. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 68, 100980. Sui-Chu, E. H., & Willms, J. D. (1996). Effects of parental involvement on eighth-grade achievement. Sociology of education, 126-141.