This study is part of an ongoing research project examining women in Sweden who work in traditional female professions. The project aims to investigate women's life patterns in a longitudinal perspective--targeting individuals born in 1948 and covering the years 1961 to 1981/82--with focus on their background, education and work experiences. Researchers concentrated on three professional groups: lower primary teachers, nurses, and secretaries. Investigators used multiple discriminant analysis in two separate analyses, dividing the data set between information collected when the respondents were 13 and when they were 32 respectively. Findings suggest that analyses could distinguish significantly between the three groups of women. The discriminant power was considerably stronger when analyzing the women as young adults. The subject's general ability in school served as the most important predictor. Two of the interest orientations, verbal and office oriented activities, also proved to be strong predictors. Likewise, the home background and the level of the mother's education influenced predictors. Some patterns could be traced back to when the subjects were 13 years old. Teachers showed the most distinctive profile, being the ones well-adapted to school. The common trait in all three professions was the tendency towards service work. The researchers caution that questioning data which were originally designed for other purposes will cause some information to be lacking. Appendixes contain study data. Contains 11 references. (RJM)