Investigating underrepresented and first-generation college students' science and math motivational beliefs: A nationally representative study using latent profile analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the math and science beliefs of underrepresented students, with a focus on first-generation college (FGC) students. We do so by estimating a typology of high school students based on their mathematics and science beliefs and examining which group(s) students were more likely to be in. We used latent profile analysis and a nationally representative sample of high school students from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009. We identified four groups, low-all, medium-low science/medium-high math, medium-high science/medium-low math, and high-all. Among these four groups, FGC students were overrepresented among students in the low-all group, which had negative math and science beliefs and the worst math, science, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) outcomes. Our findings have for research on FGC students as well as for practitioners who work with them.