2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Recently there has been increased attention around the need for engineering students to have a sense of belonging to improve retention but also mental health and well-being (Davis 2023). Disparities of belonging among different groups cannot be convincingly explained by differences in qualifications, performance, or skills. Therefore, attention has increasingly focused on environmental/situational factors that differentially impact the degree to which students develop an engineering identity and sense of belonging.

The present work examines whether performance, peer interaction and endorsement of broad masculinity ideals predicts both the development of a student’s sense of belonging and engineering identity. We will test the novel hypothesis that students’ endorsement of masculine ideals – or beliefs that men should be high in power, status, and toughness, while repudiating all that is feminine – will predict unique variance in a sense of belonging and engineering identity, over and above the effects of performance and peer interaction.

The results are based on a survey given to approximately 300 chemical engineering students in required 2nd year, 3rd year and 4th year courses at a large R1 university. The sense of belonging will be measured using a measurement of sense of social and academic fit (Walton 2015) while engineering identity will be measured using the collective self-esteem scale (Luhtanen 1992). The peer interaction instrument used is based on work by Davis et. al (Davis 2023) while performance will be determined based on students’ self-reported GPA. Finally, the hegemonic masculinity scale used is from work from Thompson and Pleck (Thompson 1986). These results will provide insight into aspects of the culture of engineering and its effect on student's sense of belonging. 

Walton, G. M., Logel, C., Peach, J. M., Spencer, S. J., & Zanna, M. P. (2015). Two brief interventions to mitigate a “chilly climate” transform women’s experience, relationships, and achievement in engineering. Journal of educational Psychology, 107(2), 468.
Luhtanen, R., & Crocker, J. (1992). A collective self-esteem scale: Self-evaluation of one's social identity. Personality and social psychology bulletin, 18(3), 302-318.
Davis, S. C., Nolen, S. B., Cheon, N., Moise, E., & Hamilton, E. W. (2023). Engineering climate for marginalized groups: Connections to peer relations and engineering identity. Journal of Engineering Education.
Thompson Jr, E. H., & Pleck, J. H. (1986). The structure of male role norms. American Behavioral Scientist, 29(5), 531-543.