Selected Factors Associated with Professional Attitude of Baccalaureate Nursing Students

To examine the association between professional attitude and selected situational and demographic factors of baccalaureate nursing students, 157 female students from an upper division major who had not had other college or nursing education answered a questionnaire which incorporated Osgood et al.'s Semantic Differential Test, Hogan's Professional Attitude Test, and an adaptation of the Dawson et al. instructor-leader behaviors. Eight hypotheses were tested. Professional attitude was found to be highest for students 24 to 26 years of age, who saw nursing as highly positive and highly active, had most formal and informal nursing experience, and perceived teachers as taking strong positions on their beliefs and relating to them with high consideration throughout their program and with low structuring when they were seniors. Professional attitude of students was not associated significantly with potency attributed to nursing, career choice, parents' level of education, or placement in sibling group.