This study examines cohort change in the effect of adolescents' family attitudes—the importance they attach to future marriage and parenthood—on their intentions to major in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and attainment of STEM bachelor's degrees between the 1970s and 1990s. Using the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 and the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, the author investigates whether the gendered relationship between family attitudes and STEM attainment changed during a period characterized by shifting ideas about gender, as well as increasing opportunities for women. In the 1970s, family attitudes negatively affected only women's STEM intentions and attainments. This study presents the novel finding that by the 1990s, both family-oriented young women and men were less likely to intend to major in STEM fields. Still, women who placed high priority on family had lower STEM attainments than similarly family-oriented men in the 1990s, even after controlling for STEM intentions.
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