The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that influence faculty expectations for student learning outcomes and to determine the relationships among faculty's expectations for student achievement, the students' perceptions of the faculty-student interactions, and students' self-actualization at the completion of their first clinical experience. The sample consisted of 21 faculty members and 207 freshmen students from four associate degree nursing (ADN) programs located in New Jersey. Two researcher-developed instruments, two established instruments from the field of psychology, and two researcher-developed demographic instruments were used to collect data for this exploratory field study. The Variables Which Influence Faculty Expectations Inventory was used to measure faculty's perceptions of factors which may influence formation of their expectations for student achievement. The Nursing Faculty Expectations for Clinical Achievement Inventory was used to measure faculty's expectations for students during their first clinical experience. The Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (B.L.R.I.) (Barrett-Lennard, 1962, 1978) was used to measure students' perceptions of the quality of faculty-student interactions. The Personal Orientation Inventory (P.O.I.) (Shostrom, 1974) was used to measure students' perceptions of their self-actualization at the completion of their first clinical experience.

Multivariate statistical procedures were used to address the research questions including Chi square, Spearman rho, and multiple regression. Faculty identified the following variables as being influential in the formation of their expectations for student achievement: physical appearance, attitude, way of communicating, and personality. Nursing faculty expectations exerted no influence upon students' perceptions of the quality of interactions and their self-actualization $(r=.10, p=.07).$ The results of this study failed to support Abraham Maslow's (1954) Humanistic Learning Theory, as the relationship between the quality of the faculty-student interactions and students' perceptions of their self-actualization was not significant. This study has begun the exploration of nursing research into the influence of faculty expectations upon the learning experience of student nurses during their first clinical experience.