Part-time preferences and professional commitment among police and nursing students

Do women work part-time in some professions due to occupational structures, or are the women seeking these professions less committed and more oriented toward part-time work? In this article we investigate when differences in part-time preferences are established among police and nursing students, and whether the least committed also prefer part-time work. The study is based on a longitudinal survey following students in nursing and policing from the beginning of their education and until graduation (N=661). The results show that female nursing students are more oriented towards working part-time than female police students, and this holds true from the beginning of their studies. We also find lower levels of professional commitment among students who plan to work part-time. However, nursing students are also more oriented towards part-time work when we compare them with police students with the same level of professional commitment. This study indicates that differences in preferences for part-time work and professional commitment are present at an early stage. Police officers and nurses have different plans for part-time work from the start, and this can be one of the explanations of the relatively high level of part-time work in nursing.