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The purpose of this study was to explore factors underlying the well-documented tendency of female students not to pursue advanced courses and careers in the Sciences, even though they are equally capable as male students in these disciplines. The research focus on female persistence was examined by: (1) defining two elements of persistence in a post-secondary student population (i.e. student interests in Science and student commitment to a Science major); and (2) examining, in relation to these elements, individual and gender differences within two models: Eccles' (Eccles, Adler, Futterman, Goff, Kaczala, Meece Eccles, 1987) Model of Achievement Motivation, and Schommer's (1990, 1994) Epistemological Beliefs. The study involved 151 post-secondary students and employed a series of MANOVAs and Logistic Regression Analysis to questionnaire data. Eccles' model successfully predicted individual and gender-related differences in undergraduate student interests in, and commitments to, a Science. Schommer's beliefs about knowing and learning were shown to be associated directly with elements of persistence (e.g. committing to a major in Science). Significantly, it was found that there is a general set of changes in epistemology and values experienced by females and not by their male colleagues. Overall these results make a unique contribution to the study of females' persistence in the Sciences.
Enman et al. (Fri,) studied this question.