The Future of Education

Although mentorship has been shown to support STEM identity development among college students, little research has investigated this relationship during the pre-college years. This study investigates the association between pre-college mentorship and STEM identity among 711 first-year students at minority-serving institutions in the United States. We analyze whether the percentage of students with a mentor and the effects of mentorship varied by gender, race/ethnicity, and first-generation status, and whether different forms and degrees of mentorship (instrumental and socioemotional) were differentially associated with STEM identity. Results showed that approximately 33% of students reported having a pre-college mentor, with no significant differences across demographic groups. Controlling for baseline STEM identity (at the beginning of middle school), students with mentors reported significantly higher STEM identity at the beginning of college than did those without (M = 2.83 vs. 1.97, p < .001), and this effect was consistent across gender, race/ethnicity, and first-generation status. Analyses of mentorship type suggested that students whose mentors provided high levels of both instrumental and socioemotional support reported higher STEM identity than those receiving low levels of both supports, though this difference was not statistically significant after Bonferroni correction. Expanding access to high-quality mentorship during the middle and high school years appears to be a promising strategy for boosting STEM identity and broadening participation in STEM fields.