Following a literature search of the theories of personal maturation and career development, a study was conducted to identify personality and demographic variables related to career development and career concerns. Specifically investigated was the relationship between two sets of variables with self-concept, locus of control, and age in one set and career orientation, exploration, establishment, maintenance, disengagement, and career change in the other set. The population for the study was all students who had been accepted in the graduate nursing program at a southern university. The 109 students who were contacted completed four inventories: the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, the Career Development Inventory (College and University Form), and the Adult Career Concerns Inventory. Analysis of the data yielded the following results: (1) support was found for Super's theory that a high self-concept is important to career development and that career decision making requires a sense of autonomy or an internal locus of control; (2) adults with positive feelings of self-worth and an internal locus of control were likely to be mature individuals secure in their level of career development and not likely to be interested in exploring new occupations; (3) adults with a lower self-concept and a more external locus of control might not as yet have crystallized a preference for a field of work and a specific occupation; and (4) support was found for Super's concept of career adaptability or the process of recycling through the stages of career development, especially at midlife. Thus, the study concluded, it cannot be assumed that as one ages, he or she automatically will be in any one predetermined stage. (KC)