Educational channeling, internalized stereotyping, expectations fulfillment and major choice on Asian Americans' major satisfaction: A moderated mediation model

This study examined whether culturally-valued or non-culturally-valued majors moderated the relation between educational channeling (or guiding and directing individuals) towards math and science and major satisfaction through internalized stereotyping and parental expectation fulfillment among 226 Asian American college students. Culturally-valued majors are defined as those in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) or business which tend to have a large Asian American presence. Moderated mediation models demonstrated that parental expectation fulfillment mediated a positive relation between educational channeling and major satisfaction for Asian Americans with culturally-valued majors but not for those with non-culturally-valued majors. In contrast, internalized stereotyping mediated a negative relation between educational channeling and major satisfaction for Asian Americans with non-culturally-valued majors but not for those with culturally-valued majors. Findings suggest educational channeling towards math and science may be associated with major satisfaction via different cultural mediators across Asian American college students of culturally-valued versus non-culturally-valued majors. Public significance statement: When Asian Americans are steered towards math and science or culturally-valued majors, factors including their major choice, perceptions of whether they are fulfilling parental expectations, and whether their major aligns with Asian stereotypes are associated with their major satisfaction. The study's results stress the importance of considering culturally-specific factors in the context of Asian Americans' career development and encourage practitioners to consider these factors in career counseling with these students.