Expectation and attainment of nursing careers

This study was designed to replicate and extend an investigation completed 15 years ago, which was related to recruitment into the nursing profession. The data are provided by the National Longitudinal Study (NLS) of youths followed from high school through young adulthood. The design involved classification of the NLS sample into three groups based on career interest in nursing and ultimate occupational attainment: (1) those who expected to become nurses when in high school and did so; (2) those who expected to become nurses in high school but did not; and (3) those who had other occupational expectations in high school but became nurses. These three recruitment types were analyzed relative to four demographic variables. Only 34% of those who planned to become nurses did so. Those who did not attain their goal were more often from low socioeconomic backgrounds, had lower aptitudes, and were more often nonwhites than were other nursing recruits. Youth in the other two groups were very similar on all variables. Findings were generally consistent with those found in the earlier study although several differences were noted in the composition of the typologies used, indicating that the pattern of recruitment is changing.