CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 497Higher Education Research StudiesCareer Development and DiversityEducational Outcomes and Influences

Student Characteristics, Pre-College, College, and Environmental Factors as Predictors of Majoring in and Earning a STEM Degree: An Analysis of Students Attending a Hispanic Serving Institution

Open access
Crisp, Gloria, Nora, Amaury, Taggart, Amanda·2009·American Educational Research Journal
DOI 10.3102/0002831209349460
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

This study examined the demographic, pre-college, environmental, and college factors that impact students’ interests in and decisions to earn a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) degree among students attending a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Results indicated that Hispanic students were well represented among STEM majors, and students’ decisions to declare a STEM major and earn a STEM degree were uniquely influenced by students’ gender, ethnicity, SAT math score, and high school percentile. Earning a STEM degree was related to students’ first-semester GPA and enrollment in mathematics and science “gatekeeper” courses. Findings indicate that HSIs may be an important point of access for students in STEM fields and may also provide opportunity for more equitable outcomes for Hispanic students.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3102/0002831209349460

Cites

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • First-semester GPA was a moderate predictor of whether students ultimately received a STEM degree in a sample of 1925 college students.

    “In a sample of 1925 college students, first-semester GPA was a moderate predictor of whether students ultimately received a STEM degree (Crisp et al., 2009).”

    From A Meta-analysis of University STEM Summer Bridge Program Effectiveness (2021) · cites this paper as Crisp et al., 2009

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

No references could be resolved yet.

Research works printed but not linked: 36

  1. Bonous-Hammarth, M. (2000). Pathways to success: Affirming opportunities for science, mathematics, and engineering majors. Journal of Negro Education, 69(1/2), 92-111.
  2. Catsambis, S. (1994). The path to math: Gender and racial-ethnic differences in mathematics participation from middle school to high school. Sociology of Education, 67(3), 199-215.
  3. Contreras, F. E., Malcom, L. E., & Bensimon, E. M. (2008). Hispanic serving institutions. In M. Gasman, B. Baez & C. Turner (Eds.), Understanding minority serving institutions (pp. 71-90). Albany: State University of New York Press.
  4. Eamon, M. K. (2004). Socio-demographic, school, neighborhood, and parenting influences on the academic achievement of Latino youth adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 34, 163-174.
  5. Fenske, R. H., Porter, J. D., & DuBrock, C. P. (2000). Tracking financial aid and persistence of women, minority, and needy students in science, engineering, and mathematics. Research in Higher Education, 41(1), 67.
  6. Gainen, J. (1995). Barriers to success in quantitative gatekeeper courses. In J. Gainen & E. W. Willemsen (Eds.), Fostering student success in quantitative gateway courses (New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 61). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
  7. Grandy, J. (1998). Persistence in science of high-ability minority students: Results of a longitudinal study. Journal of Higher Education, 69(6), 589-620.
  8. Gross, S. (1993). Early mathematics performance and achievement: Results of a study within a large suburban school system. Journal of Negro Education, 62(3), 269-287.
  9. Hixson, A. (2009, May). Top 100: Signed, sealed, delivered! Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, 15(15), 9-19.
  10. Hoachlander, G., Sikora, A. C., & Horn, L. (2003). Community college students: Goals, academic preparation, and outcomes. Education Statistics Quarterly, 5(2), 121-128.
  11. Laden, B. V. (2001). Hispanic-serving institutions: Myths and realities. Peabody Journal of Education, 76(1), 73-92.
  12. Laden, B. V. (2004). Hispanic-serving institutions: What are they? Where are they? Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 28, 181-198.
  13. Laird, T. F., Bridges, B. K., Morelon-Quainoo, C. L., Williams, J. M., & Holmes, M. S. (2007). African American and Hispanic student engagement at minority serving and predominantly White institutions. Journal of College Student Development, 48(1), 39-56.
  14. Lantz, A. E., & Smith, G. P. (1981). Factors influencing the choice of nonrequired mathematics course. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73, 825-837.
  15. Leslie, L. L., McClure, G. T., & Oaxaca, R. L. (1998). Women and minorities in science and engineering: A life sequence analysis. Journal of Higher Education, 69(3), 239-276.
  16. Lottes, I. L., DeMaris, A., & Adler, M. A. (1996). Using and interpreting logistic regression: A guide for teachers and students. Teaching Sociology, 24(3), 284-298.
  17. Maestas, R., Vaquera, G. S., & Zehr, L. M. (2007). Factors impacting sense of belonging at a Hispanic-serving institution. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 6(3), 237-256.
  18. Malcom, L. E., & Dowd, A. C. (2008, November). The effect of indebtedness on graduate school enrollment of Latino STEM baccalaureates: A propensity score matching analysis. Paper presented at the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Jacksonville, FL. Maple, S. A., & Stage, F. K. (1991). Influences on the choice of math/science major by gender and ethnicity. American Educational Research Journal, 28(1), 37-60.
  19. Meece, J. L., Parsons, J. E., Kaczala, C. M., Goff, S. R., & Futterman, R. (1982). Sex differences in math achievement: Toward a model of academic choice. Psychological Bulletin, 91, 324-348.
  20. Millett, C. M., & Nettles, M. T. (2006). Expanding and cultivating the Hispanic STEM doctoral workforce: Research on doctoral student experiences. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 5(3), 258-287.
  21. Moreno, S. E., & Muller, C. (1999). Success and diversity: The transition through first-year calculus in the university. American Journal of Education, 108(1), 30-57.
  22. Nora, A. (1993). College persistence: Structural equation modeling test of an integrated model of student retention. Journal of Higher Education, 64(2), 123-137.
  23. Nora, A. (2003). Access to higher education for Hispanic students: Real or illusory? In J. Castellanos & L. Jones (Eds.), The majority in the minority: Expanding the representation of Latina/o faculty, administrators and students in higher education (pp. 47-68). Herndon, VA: Stylus Publishing.
  24. Oakes, J. (1990). Opportunities, achievement and choice: Women and minority students in science and mathematics. Review of Research in Education, 16, 153-222.
  25. Ornelas, A., & Solórzano, D. (2004). The transfer condition of Latina/o community college students in California: Policy recommendations and solutions. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 28, 233-248.
  26. Peng, C. J., So, T. H., Stage, F. K., & St. John, E. P. (2002). The use and interpretation of logistic regression in higher education journals: 1988-1999. Research in Higher Education, 43(3), 259-293.
  27. Post-Kammer, P., & Smith, P. L. (1986). Sex differences in math and science career self-efficacy among disadvantaged students. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 29, 89-101.
  28. Rakow, S. J., & Bermudez, A. B. (1993). Science is ''ciencia'': Meeting the needs of Hispanic American students. Science Education, 77(6), 669-683.
  29. Rakow, S. J., & Walker, C. L. (1985). The status of Hispanic American students in science: Achievement and exposure. Science Education, 69(4), 557-565.
  30. Reyes, O., Kobus, K., & Gillock, K. (1999). Career aspirations of urban, Mexican American adolescent females. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 21(3), 366-382.
  31. Simpson, J. C. (2001). Segregated by subject-racial differences in the factors influencing academic major between European Americans, Asian Americans, and African, Hispanic, and Native Americans. Journal of Higher Education, 72(1), 63-100.
  32. Stage, F. K., & Hossler, D. (1989). Differences in family influences on college attendance plans for male and female ninth graders. Research in Higher Education, 30(3), 301-315.
  33. Sullins, E. S., Hernandez, D., Fuller, C., & Tashiro, J. S. (1995). Predicting who will major in a science discipline. Expectancy-value theory as part of an ecological model for studying academic communities. Journal of Research in Science and Technology, 32(1), 99-119.
  34. Tyson, W., Lee, R., Borman, K. M., & Hanson, M. A. (2007). Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pathways: High school science and math coursework and postsecondary degree attainment. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2005). Higher education: Federal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs and related trends (GAO-06-114). Retrieved August 1, 2006, from http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06114.pdf
  35. Young, H. (2005). Secondary education systematic issues: Addressing possible contributors to a leak in the science education pipeline and potential solutions. Journal of Science Education & Technology, 14(2), 205-216.
  36. Zuniga, K., Olson, J. K., & Winter, M. (2005). Science education for rural Latino/a students: Course placement and success in science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 42(4), 376-402.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Crisp, G., Nora, A., & Taggart, A.
Affiliations
The University of Texas at San Antonio (US)
ORCID
Venue
American Educational Research Journal
Publisher
American Educational Research Association (AERA)
Published
2009-12
Volume
46
Issue
4
Pages
924-942
ISSN
  • 0002-8312 (ISSN-L)
  • 1935-1011
DOI
10.3102/0002831209349460
OpenAlex
W2126052647
Cited by
497
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 20 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 46 · 2020: 63 · 2019: 65 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 33 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 17
FWCI
36.10
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • American Educational Research Journal (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Career Development and Diversity
  • Social Sciences › Education › Educational Outcomes and Influences
Keywords
STEM degree attainment, STEM major choice, Hispanic students, Hispanic-serving institutions, gender differences, ethnicity, SAT math scores, gatekeeper courses, STEM pipeline, educational equity

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review