In Korea, the number of admissions to nursing colleges has greatly increased over the past 20 years to address the shortage of nurses. However, many nursing students have unclear career identities during college and stop working in healthcare after graduation. This study aimed to examine the effects of self-esteem, problem-solving ability, and professional nursing values on career identity. The participants were 140 third- and fourth-year nursing students recruited from a university in South Korea. Data were collected between September and October 2019 using a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, and multiple linear regression. The results showed significant correlations between satisfaction with college life and major subject, subjective academic achievement, self-esteem, problem-solving ability, professional nursing values, and career identity. The factors that significantly affected career identity were self-esteem and professional nursing values. Nursing educators can support the career development of nursing students by enhancing their self-esteem and professionalism, along with efforts to improve satisfaction with their college life and major.
Keywords: career identity; nursing students; problem-solving; professional nursing values; self-esteem.