The likelihood that students pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) depends on the extent to which they identify with these fields (i.e., STEM identity). In order for students to develop a STEM identity, it is crucial that they receive social recognition from others (e.g., family members, teachers, friends, and professionals in STEM). Yet, research that explicitly compares whose recognition is meaningful to students in developing STEM is still scarce. This study examines to what extent 134 Thai secondary school students (47 males and 87 females) perceive meaningfulness of recognition in STEM if they gain from different persons. Data were collected using a Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using statistical methods. The results indicate that, regardless of the students’ gender and educational levels, students similarly appreciate social recognition from friends, family members, teachers, and unspecified others. Only recognition from professionals in STEM, however, is significantly lesser meaningful than that from other kinds of persons. Moreover, students with strong STEM identities are more likely than those with weak STEM identities to appreciate social recognition. These results highlight not only the importance of recognition from those with whom students are already intimate, rather than recognition from those who work in STEM fields, but also different scaffoldings for students with varying degrees of STEM identity to see themselves as STEM persons.

学生从事科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 职业的可能性取决于他们对这些领域的认同程度（即 STEM 认同）。为了让学生形成 STEM 身份，他们获得他人（例如家庭成员、老师、朋友和 STEM 专业人士）的社会认可至关重要。然而，明确比较谁的认可对学生发展 STEM 有意义的研究仍然很少。本研究调查了 134 名泰国中学生（47 名男性和 87 名女性）如果从不同的人那里获得认可，他们会在多大程度上感受到 STEM 认可的意义。使用李克特量表问卷收集数据并使用统计方法进行分析。结果表明，无论学生的性别和教育水平如何，学生都同样欣赏朋友、家人、老师和其他人的社会认可。然而，仅获得 STEM 专业人士的认可，其意义就明显低于其他类型人士的认可。此外，具有较强 STEM 认同的学生比那些具有较弱 STEM 认同的学生更有可能获得社会认可。这些结果不仅强调了来自与学生已经很亲密的人的认可的重要性，而不是那些在 STEM 领域工作的人的认可，而且还强调了不同程度的 STEM 身份的学生将自己视为 STEM 人的不同支架。