Do undergraduate women in pharmacology underestimate their academic ability?

MJ Wallace, KE Pugh. Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

Women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related careers. The British Pharmacological Society (BPS), the primary learned society in the UK for pharmacology, a STEM subject, report that only a third of their members are female, with less than 25% representation across management committees and activities (1).

The underrepresentation of women in STEM subjects has been hypothesised to result from various social, biological, or psychological factors (2). One such psychological factor is known as the Impostor Syndrome (3). It is experienced as chronic self-doubt and feelings of fraudulence even when faced with evidence of success. One characteristic identified in sufferers of the Impostor Syndrome is an underestimation of performance success, as measured using self-assessment questionnaires (4).

Our questions:

1) Do women in the Cardiff Medical Pharmacology BSc underestimate their academic performance?

2) If so, do they underestimate their performance more than men?

3) Do women and men achieve similar marks?

Methods: We analysed self-assessment questionnaires that students are routinely asked to submit with each piece of coursework across the 3 years of study. Students were not followed up beyond the 3 year BSc course. For each piece of coursework, we calculated the difference between the self-assessed mark and the mark given by the relevant staff marker(s). We term this number the Self-Assessment Differential (SAD).

Results: We found that compared to a mean SAD of zero (i.e. perfect accuracy in self-assessment), both genders significantly underestimate their academic ability in coursework assessments (-15.84% ± 1.109 N=158 women, -8.857% ± 1.207 N=105 men, one-tailed t-test, p<0.001). However, women underestimate their academic ability to a significantly greater extent than men (6.99% ± 1.68, unpaired, two-tailed t-test, p<0.001). The mean coursework marks for women and men were not significantly different (unpaired, two-tailed t-test, p=0.5753).

Conclusion: These data show that both men and women in an undergraduate pharmacology programme underestimate the quality of their coursework, but women do so much more than men. An inability to accurately self-assess one’s ability is a component of the Imposter Syndrome and is believed to be a factor that contributes to the reduced number of women in STEM subjects. Therefore, interventions targeted at improving self-assessment accuracy may improve the retention of women in these fields, including pharmacology.

References:

(1) BPS website http://www.bps.ac.uk/SpringboardWebApp/userfiles/bps/file/Guidelines/Equality%20and%20diversity%20statement%2020_05_2013(1).pdf

(2) Clance, PR et al. (1978). Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice: 15(3) 1-8.

(3) Beyer, S (1990). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 59(5): 960-970.

(4) Leary MR et al. (2000) Journal of Personality 68: 725-756.