STEM career interest development and persistence: what parents do, say, and should say

Parent–child communication is an essential part of developing and sustaining career interests. Parents’ involvement in the process of career interest development and persistence of women in STEM is critical to understand to marshal support for women entering high-barrier fields. This manuscript answers 3 questions about how parents are involved in the processes of career interest development and persistence: What do parents do? What do parents say? And what should parents say? Models of interest development, studies of parental vocational anticipatory socialization, and communication theories such as the support framework and confirmation theory answer these questions. We propose paths for future research that use communication theory to predict effective parental communication while embracing an intersectional lens and considering support gaps.