Decision Making and Emotional State in Asian and Non-Asian STEM Majors.

Background: Although Asian Americans are the largest growing ethnic group in the United States (Census Bureau, 2014), limited research has studied Asian Americans’ career development and the factors which guide this population into STEM college majors. Purpose: The study of STEM is linked to national economic prosperity in the United States, and college STEM majors are often populated by Asian-background students (Crumb & King, 2010). The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the factors that influence students of Asian background and their college degree and major choices. Three research questions were addressed: (1) Do we have reason to suspect there are differences in cultural and familial expectations when making STEM major decisions between students of Asian background and Non-Asian students, and does student gender make a difference? (2) Do students of Asian background who major in STEM report more negative or positive emotional state than students of Non-Asian backgrounds who pursue a STEM major, and are these emotional states different for male and female STEM students? (3) Are Asian American students’ STEM decision and emotional state associated with their birth order and generational status? The study sought to answer these questions to better understand the factors that are related to these decisions and characteristics. Methods: A total of 215 undergraduate and graduate STEM majors (50.6% male; 58.6% Asian ethnicity/race; 51% of the Asian students were foreign-born/first-generation) at a public research university completed an online survey. After completing questions on several demographic markers (college major, generational status, birth order, gender, age, country of origin), students reported on their perceptions of family and cultural influence on their choices of STEM majors and on their current emotional states. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to test the study hypotheses. Results: Students of Asian background reported significantly higher levels of family and cultural influence on major and career choice than non-Asians. In addition, students of Asian background reported significantly more positive day-to-day affect than non-Asians. Gender also shows a statistically significant difference in levels of reported total influence but not on total positive affect. Specifically, women of both Asian and non-Asian backgrounds reported higher levels of total influence. Generational status among the Asian students was also significantly related to total influence. Conclusion: This study is the first we know of to look at the emotional states of college STEM majors, and its results could inform culturally sensitive career assessment efforts by acknowledging and discussing collectivist points of view as well as the conventional person-environment fit in choosing a college major.