Although women now comprise at least 52.9% of the work force, limited attention has been given to the vocational development process of women. Most vocational development theory explaining the vocational development process has been based on boys or men and there have been some questions as to the applicability of this research to women's vocational development process. This study is based on Super's four stage developmental vocational theory (Exploration, Establishment, Maintenance, Decline) and is designed to examine the vocational process of nursing students and employed Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses.

The review of related literature included an overview of vocational development theory, vocational development of adults, vocational development of women and nursing. The literature review provided information on variables affecting the vocational development of women and provided support for the position that additional research was needed on women's vocational development.

The sample consisted of 226 RNs and LPNs and 76 nursing students. Super and Thompson's (1981) Career Concerns Inventory and a biographical questionnaire consisting of information on Work History, Demographic Information, Career Choice Factors, and Parental Educational Background and Occupation was administered to the sample. Four variables were examined in relationship to vocational maturity within vocational stage: age, educational background, job title, and number of years in the nursing profession. Four hypotheses were designed to examine the effects of the above variables on vocational development. Analysis of variance, Scheffe post hoc test, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, chi-squared statistic, frequencies, ranges, means and scattergrams were techniques used to analyze the data.

Nursing students expressed more concern about tasks of the Exploration Stage, while RNs and LPNs expressed more concern about tasks of the Establishment and Maintenance Stages. Age and number of years in the profession were positively related to vocational stage and differences were found between educational background and vocational stage. However, the grouping variables (age, number of years in the field, educational background, job title) accounted for limited variability, indicating factors other than those identified influenced vocational development.