Attributions, future time perspective and career maturity in nursing undergraduates: correlational study design

Background: Career maturity is an important parameter as nursing undergraduates prepare for their future careers. However, little is known regarding the relationships between attributions, future time perspective and career maturity among nursing undergraduates. The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of career maturity and its relationship with attributions and future time perspective. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was designed. This survey was administered to 431 Chinese nursing undergraduates. Independent-sample t-tests and one-way ANOVA were performed to examine the mean differences between categories of binary and categorical demographic characteristics, respectively. Pearson correlations and multiple linear regressions were used to test the relationships between attributions, future time perspective and career maturity. Results: The degree of career maturity was moderate among nursing undergraduates and that internal attributions of academic achievement, future efficacy and future purpose consciousness were positively associated with career maturity (all p < 0.01). These three factors accounted for 37.6 % of the variance in career maturity (adjusted R-2 = 0.376). Conclusions: These findings might assist nursing educators and career counselors to improve nursing undergraduate career maturity by elucidating the imperative roles of internal attributions and future time perspective and to facilitate their transition from school to clinical practice.