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TABLE IID-3
CHANGE IN SELF-CONFIDENCE THAT ENGINEERING IS RIGHT MAJOR FROM FALL TO SPRING
BY FAMILY BACKGROUND AND GENDER
Gender
Change in
Confidence
that
Engineering
Right Major
% Father’s
with college
education
% Mothers
with
College
Education
(%’s)
Father’s
mean
occupational
prestige
Mean
number of
siblings
% whose
siblings
went to
college
Support of
significant
others for
engineering a
Males Decreased 61.2 47.9 52.9 2.1 43.0 6.51
Same 46.3 41.0 53.4 2.0 43.0 6.74
Increased 51.2 41.5 52.5 1.8 30.0 6.59
Females Decreased 85.7 85.7 55.7 1.7 0 7.00
Same 48.6 60.0 52.0 1.8 62.0 6.97
Increased 52.6 52.6 49.7 2.2 53.0 5.73
a The support index is explained above in Chapter IIB.
With regard to changes in confidence in mechanical ability, there are no statistically
significant differences by family background characteristics for males, and no clear
patterns of relationship (Table IID-4). For the females, however, it is the women whose
fathers have higher education and higher occupational prestige whose self-confidence in
their mechanical ability increases the most (anova significant at p=.03 and p=.02,
respectively). It is also the women who had more siblings in college whose confidence in
their mechanical ability increases the most. So it is possible that these role models and/or
socio-economic status enhance women’s self-confidence in their mechanical abilities,
beyond the influence of the school environment.
IID-147