A developmental framework In order to understand factors that may contribute to differences in interest and participation in science fields by gender, I present a developmental framework. My aim is to provide a framework that may guide future research. The benefit of a developmental framework is that it is both holistic, capturing the life course of youth that may lead to various later outcomes, but is also amenable to specific research questions about mechanisms that contribute to gender gaps. Others have taken sociological, psychological, or cognitive approaches (Xie et al., 2015). The benefit of a developmental approach is that it is ecological—it incorporates social, biological, and psychological factors. To give the framework analytical
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Erikson conceptualized adolescence as a period in which youth try out different identities to figure out ‘who they are’ in the world, settling on a sense of self by the close of adolescence in normative development. Since Erikson’s work, however, researchers have found that identity development is not limited to adolescence, but is an ongoing life project that emerges in stages over the life course(McAdams & Olson, 2010). Some of this work occurs during adolescence, growing in concern in late adolescence and early adulthood (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). In particular, during adolescence, cognitive abilities to construct causal autobiographical stories develop, allowing adolescents to being to craft what McAdams calls narrative identity. Narrative identity is defined as an integrative, ongoing life story that individuals craft to make meaning out of their lives (McAdams, 2011). It is composed out of selected elements from a person’s past life experiences and anticipated future. This narrative identity evolves over time and continues as a life project throughout adulthood. In addition to individual life experiences and a projected future, cultural context plays a key role by providing resources for form and content of personal narratives. Culture offers norms, values, images, and metaphor that help individuals craft their life story (McAdams, 2011). Moreover, cultural …show more content…
First, both are psychological concepts, with narrative identity serving a ‘big picture’ developmental role, and expectancy-value model as a micro-level framework identifying specific mechanisms. Second, narrative identity can incorporate the expectancy-value model as a feature relating to a person’s past experience informing their future aspirations. Third, Eccles and colleagues have applied their model to gender gaps in science education and thus the model has an empirical base. At present, narrative identity is used more often to study adults, with only a little attention to narrative identity in adolescence (Hammack, 2010). However, studies such as Hammack (2010) show the utility of narrative identity when studying
Erikson conceptualized adolescence as a period in which youth try out different identities to figure out ‘who they are’ in the world, settling on a sense of self by the close of adolescence in normative development. Since Erikson’s work, however, researchers have found that identity development is not limited to adolescence, but is an ongoing life project that emerges in stages over the life course(McAdams & Olson, 2010). Some of this work occurs during adolescence, growing in concern in late adolescence and early adulthood (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). In particular, during adolescence, cognitive abilities to construct causal autobiographical stories develop, allowing adolescents to being to craft what McAdams calls narrative identity. Narrative identity is defined as an integrative, ongoing life story that individuals craft to make meaning out of their lives (McAdams, 2011). It is composed out of selected elements from a person’s past life experiences and anticipated future. This narrative identity evolves over time and continues as a life project throughout adulthood. In addition to individual life experiences and a projected future, cultural context plays a key role by providing resources for form and content of personal narratives. Culture offers norms, values, images, and metaphor that help individuals craft their life story (McAdams, 2011). Moreover, cultural …show more content…
First, both are psychological concepts, with narrative identity serving a ‘big picture’ developmental role, and expectancy-value model as a micro-level framework identifying specific mechanisms. Second, narrative identity can incorporate the expectancy-value model as a feature relating to a person’s past experience informing their future aspirations. Third, Eccles and colleagues have applied their model to gender gaps in science education and thus the model has an empirical base. At present, narrative identity is used more often to study adults, with only a little attention to narrative identity in adolescence (Hammack, 2010). However, studies such as Hammack (2010) show the utility of narrative identity when studying