Testing the contextual factors' effect in social cognitive career theory among Latina/o and white women and men engineering students

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The current study tested a model of career persistence intentions in engineering based on Lent, Brown, and Hackett's (1994, 2000) social cognitive career theory incorporating the Realistic and Investigative themes of Holland theory (1997) among a sample of 457 college students majoring in engineering attending a Hispanic serving institution (HSI). The findings indicated that (a) proposed model with combined paths (direct and indirect effect model), which include both direct and indirect paths from contextual factors to engineering persistence intentions, fit the data for the full sample; (2) for both Realistic and Investigative models, significant paths were between Realistic/Investigative self-efficacy and Realistic/Investigative interests, engineering support and engineering persistence intentions, and engineering barriers and engineering persistence intention; (3) social cognitive career theory predictors accounted for a significant amount of variance in engineering persistence intentions (26.6% and 28.5%) for Realistic and Investigative models; (4) the model varied across women and men and across Latina/o and white engineering undergraduate students for both Realistic and Investigative models. Implications for research and practice are discussed in relation to persistence in engineering among women and Latina/o students.