Career aspirations, job satisfaction and gender identity in female student nurses

This study examines the gender-role orientation, gender-role conflict, job commitment and work motivation of female student nurses in the Republic of Ireland. Career aspirations, year of nurse training and geographical area of upbringing were examined as potential concomitants of these dependent measures. Subjects completed self-report measures of job involvement, work motivation, gender-role orientation and gender-role conflict. Results obtained showed that aspiring towards a traditionally female career area of nursing was associated with higher levels of work motivation and lower levels of gender-role conflict. Higher levels of job commitment amongst final year students were also significantly related to traditionally female career aspirations. Year of training had a significant and negative influence on work motivation and job commitment. Finally, nurses from rural areas aspiring towards a traditionally female area of nursing had significantly more feminine gender-role orientations than either their urban counterparts or rural colleagues with non-traditional career aspirations. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.