The purpose of this study was to test a model using Rosabeth Kanter's theory (1977; 1993) of structural empowerment to determine if this model can predict student nurses' level of critical thinking. Major goals of nursing education are to cultivate graduates who can think critically with a keen sense of clinical judgment, and who can perform compassionate, ethical, safe and competent care in complex healthcare settings. Nursing faculty are charged with developing graduate nurses who can make rapid, accurate, and effective decisions when caring for patients. It was anticipated that factors within the learning environment such as structural empowerment are predictive of higher levels of clinical reasoning. Confirming this would have provided guidance to what teaching/learning strategies could be developed to enhance this type of learning environment to facilitate acquisition of critical thinking skills and dispositions. A cross-sectional, correlational, predictive design was used in this study. Study participants were nursing students across the United States who were enrolled or had just graduated from traditional baccalaureate registered nurse programs. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were conducted on a sample of 203 participants who took a survey measuring structural empowerment with an instrument called CLEQ (Conditions of Learning Effectiveness Questionnaire). Critical thinking was measured with an instrument called HSRT (Health Sciences Reasoning Test), and 53 of the 203 also took this HSRT in addition to the CLEQ. Both instruments have established reliability and validity. The results did not support the hypotheses of increased perceptions of structural empowerment being associated with increased level of critical thinking, but they did show some inverse relationships between the two. An extremely interesting and unexpected relationship was discovered among the covariates. This finding was that the participants who had higher levels of critical thinking were those students who did not have previous healthcare experience. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]