Having female role models correlates with PhD students' attitudes toward their own academic success.

ABSTRACT: Research indicates that increasing diversity in doctoral programs can positively affect students' academic success. However, little research examines students' responses to female scholars' representation. The two studies presented here examine how students' exposure to female academic role models shapes students' attitudes toward their own academic success (i.e. self-efficacy). Such attitudes are critical because they predict student retention rates. In our first study, we randomly exposed 297 Ph.D. students in one academic discipline to either a gender-diverse (i.e. 30% female authors) or non-diverse syllabus in research methods (i.e. 10% female authors). We examined the effect of the intervention on students' perceived likelihood of succeeding in the hypothetical course. Contrary to exp

SUBMITTER: Gillooly SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8372968 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature