Rural and urban seniors from all-black high schools in Louisiana were given group-administered questionnaires to determine the influence of 5 primary contacts on the formation of occupational aspirations of youth. The 5 primary contacts generally acknowledged to have some influence were parents, relatives, friends, teachers, and guidance counselors. The 264 respondents were classified by residence (rural or urban) and by sex. The Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance was used to determine signigicant variations among the student categories. Parents were found to be the most helpful and influential for all categories of students. Teachers were second in influence but were more influential to rural students than to urban students, as were guidance counselors. Relatives were rated more influential by urban students than were guidance counselors. The influence of friends was not significant except for rural males. It was concluded that a general theory of occupational choice cannot be formed until explanations for the differential influence of primary contacts are provided. (JH)