AUTHOR=Steinke Jocelyn 

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

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00716

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00716

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>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 <italic>how</italic> and <italic>when</italic> cues in the broader sociocultural context may affect adolescent girls’ STEM identity. This article emphasizes the importance of focusing on <bold><italic>STEM</italic></bold><bold><italic>identity relevant variables</italic></bold> and <bold><italic>STEM identity status</italic></bold> to explain individual differences in STEM identity formation.</p>