Women’s implicit associations between gender and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) may inhibit their desire to pursue and succeed in STEM careers. Little consensus exists regarding when these associations begin to develop and what may lead to changes over time. This study examined whether gender-STEM implicit associations of college women majoring in male-dominated STEM fields are less stereotypical than those who choose non-STEM, people-oriented, female-dominated majors (FDMs), whether these associations might differ between students at the start and end of their degree program, and whether these associations are related to previous STEM-relevant educational experiences or explicit STEM-gender associations. A Career Identity Implicit Association Test (IAT) measured implicit associations between personal identities and career choices and a Gender-Career IAT measured implicit associations between gender groups and careers in a sample of 240 college women (half STEM majors, half FDMs) who completed the study online. Half of each major group was composed of first year students and half were more advanced students (third year or beyond). We also assessed explicit gender-STEM stereotypes and early educational experiences related to STEM. Results indicated more counter-stereotypical associations for personal career identity and gender-career stereotypes among STEM women compared to non-STEM women, with no effect for year in school. Higher quality STEM educational experiences were also associated with counter-stereotypical scores on both IATs. Counterintuitively, explicit gender-STEM associations were related to less stereotypical scores on the Career-Identity IAT. Unexpectedly, STEM majors and advanced students reported more pronounced explicit gender-STEM associations than FDM majors and first-year students. Both IAT scores and early educational experiences predicted major choice. These results have novel implications for interventions that encourage women’s participation in STEM.

女性在性别与科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 之间的内隐关联可能会抑制她们追求 STEM 职业并取得成功的愿望。关于这些协会何时开始发展以及随着时间的推移可能导致什么变化，几乎没有达成共识。本研究调查了主修男性主导的 STEM 领域的女大学生的性别-STEM 内隐关联是否比那些选择非 STEM、以人为本、女性主导的专业 (FDM) 的女大学生更少刻板印象，这些关联是否可能因学生而异他们学位课程的开始和结束，以及这些关联是否与以前的 STEM 相关教育经历或明确的 STEM 性别关联有关。职业身份内隐关联测试 (IAT) 测量了个人身份与职业选择之间的内隐关联，而性别职业 IAT 测量了 240 名大学女性（一半是 STEM 专业，一半是 FDM）样本中性别群体与职业之间的内隐关联。在线学习。每个主要组的一半由一年级学生组成，一半是更高级的学生（三年级或更高年级）。我们还评估了明确的性别 STEM 刻板印象和与 STEM 相关的早期教育经历。结果表明，与非 STEM 女性相比，STEM 女性在个人职业身份和性别职业刻板印象方面有更多的反刻板印象，这对在校一年没有影响。更高质量的 STEM 教育体验也与两种 IAT 的反陈规定型分数相关。与直觉相反，明确的性别-STEM 关联与 Career-Identity IAT 上不那么刻板的分数有关。出乎意料的是，与 FDM 专业和一年级学生相比，STEM 专业和高年级学生报告了更明显的性别-STEM 关联。IAT 分数和早期教育经历都预测了专业选择。这些结果对鼓励女性参与 STEM 的干预措施具有新的意义。