Skip to content

Math and Science Identity Change and Paths into and out of STEM: Gender and Racial Disparities

Yingyi Ma & Shiyang Xiao

Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, April 2021

Yingyi Ma

Yingyi Ma


"Math and Science Identity Change and Paths into and out of STEM: Gender and Racial Disparities," co-authored by Associate Professor of Sociology Yingyi Ma, was published in Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World. Using data from the Pathways through College Study, Ma and Ph.D. candidate Shiyang Xiao '20 M.A. (Econ) find that science identity changes matter more than math identity changes in their association with the decision to switch majors. Most notably, underrepresented racial minority women are the most vulnerable in terms of decreasing science identity and the associated probabilities of leaking out of STEM. 04/30/21