The effects of experiencing stereotype threat and internal attribution of failure among women’s intentions to drop out from university

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate why women drop out from university, with specific focus on female students from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). We developed three hypotheses based on stereotype threat theory (Steele & Aronson, 1995) and attribution theory (Heider, 1958). The hypotheses were as following: H1) The experience of stereotype threat is related to higher intentions to drop out. H2) Internal attribution of failure is related to higher intentions to drop out, and H3) more stereotype threat experiences are positively related to negative attribution pattern. Data was gathered from female students at The Arctic University of Norway (UiT) (n = 171) and we used a correlational design. Data was analyzed by using Pearson’s correlation and linear regression. H1 show a positive trend between stereotype threat and intentions to drop out. H2 show a relation between negative attribution pattern of failure and drop out intentions among female STEM students. H3 show no relation between stereotype threat and negative attribution pattern. This strengthens the suggestion that the experience of stereotype threat and internal attribution of failure could be a reason to why female students choose to leave their field of study at university level.