A study was conducted to examine the effects on young women of reading about nontraditional role models in the sciences and engineering, and discussing various aspects of participating in science and engineering careers with a trained instructor. Subjects for the study were 153 female students enrolled in advanced, elective science courses (10th through 12th grade) at a suburban high school in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. All participants had completed two to seven semesters of study in both mathematics and science, nearly all planned to pursue a college undergraduate degree, and many aspired to do graduate work. Their attitudes toward careers were expected to become more positive with regard to appropriateness for both men and women; their level of interest; and confidence in their ability to be successful. The subjects were also expected to be able to generalize to careers that were not included in the experiment. In general, findings indicated that: a significant positive change in confidence occurred in the experimental group across all eight careers surveyed in the posttest phase; the generalization effect did take place; young women's attitudes toward the appropriateness of careers for both sexes were not modified; and there was no significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of increased interest in careers. Some factors to be considered in future studies of this nature are suggested. (25 references) (CGD)