Chemistry identity profiles and chemistry career aspiration among high school students who elect chemistry: a latent profile analysis

Global shortages of skilled professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) highlight the importance of understanding how students develop career aspirations in these fields. While STEM identity is a key source of persistence, prior studies have largely overlooked heterogeneity in its development. Given that chemistry remains one of the STEM fields facing acute talent shortages, the study adopts a person-centred latent profile analysis (LPA) to reveal the heterogeneity of chemistry identity among upper-secondary students who elected chemistry. Based on previous studies, gender, perceived difficulty, learning burnout, and teacher support were included as predictors of chemistry identity profiles. A sample of 1177 tenth-grade students participated, and four profiles were identified: very low chemistry identity (5.9%), low chemistry identity (35.5%), moderate chemistry identity (44.3%), and high chemistry identity (14.3%). Multinomial logistic regression showed a significant gender difference only between the moderate and low chemistry identity profiles, with girls more likely to belong to the low profile. No significant gender differences were found between the high and moderate profiles or between the very low and moderate profiles. Higher perceived difficulty and learning burnout predicted membership in lower chemistry identity profiles, while stronger perceived teacher support increased the likelihood of membership in the high chemistry identity profile. Career aspiration varied significantly across profiles, with the highest levels in the high chemistry identity profile and the lowest in the very low chemistry identity profile. These findings provide new evidence that gender, personal factors, and school-based supports are associated with chemistry identity profiles and chemistry-related career aspirations, highlighting the importance of reducing perceived difficulty, alleviating burnout, strengthening perceived chemistry teacher support, and addressing gender-related differences in profile membership.