Reframing Persistence: The Role of Gender and Academic Advising in Building Self-Efficacy Among Women STEM Students

Abstract

The underrepresentation of women in STEM disciplines has negative consequences (Hill et al., 2010; Margolis & Fisher, 2002) and the persistence of women in this field does not fix the underlying systemic and relational factors shaping their experiences. A gap remains in understanding how women’s interactions with academic advisors influence their self-efficacy, a primary component of academic persistence, within these fields. To address this gap, this study employs a general interpretive qualitative approach (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) to explore the persistence and self-efficacy building of women (n=20) in STEM programs. and the role of academic advisors. Grounded in Bandura's (1977, 1986, 1997) self-efficacy as a conceptual framework, this study examines how women build self-efficacy in masculinized STEM spaces through key personal and academic interactions. Drawing on in-depth interviews, the data reveals that individual accomplishment, parental and peer influence, sense of community and belonging, and institutional support are factors in shaping academic self-efficacy. Interestingly, for most of the participants in the study, the role of the academic advisor came secondary tothese other influences. This study contributes to the broader understanding of women’s persistence in STEM and highlights their perceptions of the academic advisors' role in building self-efficacy. In examining how academic self-efficacy was built and maintained for the participants, I was able to see the salient autonomous and social sources of academic self- efficacy and how interactions with academic advisors are perceived in building academic self-efficacy. Based on these findings, recommendations are offered for academic advisors and academic advising administrators to address structural barriers that create challenges to formulating holistic interactions for women STEM students, which may assist in building academic self-efficacy.