Factors Influencing Retention of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students in Undergraduate STEM Majors.

ABSTRACT: Despite calls for improved data-collection efforts tracking transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, there have been no reports of TGNC continuation in STEM majors at the university level. Using national, longitudinal data from the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, we analyzed the experiences of 20,910 students who indicated an initial intent to major in a STEM field and found that TGNC students (n = 117) continue in STEM majors at a rate ∼10% lower than their cisgender peers. This gap persists despite TGNC students' high levels of academic ability and academic self-confidence. Through multilevel regression modeling, we found this difference is not explain

SUBMITTER: Maloy J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9250371 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature