Cross-national results from a STEM stereotypes questionnaire

The stereotypical views that students hold about STEM careers continue to be major barriers to students choosing to continue within the STEM pipeline, which is particularly true for female students. Categories of STEM stereotypes include trait-based beliefs (e.g., that people in STEM careers have to be brilliant and nerdy), gender-based beliefs (e.g., that males are more competent in STEM subjects and careers), and socio-economic status-based beliefs (e.g., that coming from a more affluent family with higher education is required to succeed in STEM careers). However, most studies of STEM stereotypes have focused on just one of the domains of STEM, and little is known about the differences between stereotypes in each STEM domain. This study describes students’ perceptions of trait-based, gender-based, and SES stereotypes within each of the four STEM domains and measures students' implicit gender biases. It also compares STEM stereotypes between students in Türkiye (a moderate-income, developing nation with a collectivist culture) and Australia (a high-income, developed nation with an individualist culture). These two countries also have significantly different distributions of genders within STEM professions. There was no significant difference between Australian and Turkish students regarding their beliefs about necessary traits for STEM careers. However, Australian students were more likely to believe that STEM careers were more accessible to higher SES families than Turkish students. Comparison of gendered views of STEM careers revealed biases about the suitability of these careers for males rather than females held by all Australian students, particularly males, and by Turkish males only.