Lebedeva, Kuzmina. [Self-concept as a possible predictor of STEM career: adaptation of the questionnaire to measure five factors of self-concept]

Abstract:
The problem of bringing girls into STEM-related specialty, is important for many countries, including Russia. Some studies show that various parameters of self-esteem can be associated with low representation of women in these professions. In order to assess the Russian data, concerning the extent to which self-esteem is related to the fact that women do not continue to work in STEM areas even after getting the corresponding education, the adaptation of English-language methodology based on multifactor self-evaluation (SDQ III)was held.For the purpose of adaptation of the questionnaire’sfull version we selected five factors which are proved to relate to infrequency of girls’ choices of STEM for professional training: “Mathematical self-estimation”, “Humanitarian self-estimation”, “Selfestimation of appearance”, “Self-estimation of relations with the same gender people”,“Self-estimation of relations with the opposite gender people”. The participants of the study were women (N = 532) over the age of 18 years. The confirmatory factoranalysisused to analyze thefactor structure of the questionnaire proved the rightfulness of allocation of five theoretically laid out factors of self-estimation. Analysis of psychometric properties in modern test theory (IRT analysis) revealed that the questionnaire has satisfactory psychometric characteristics and can be used for the measurement of selected factors of self-estimation.