This study successively tests simple modeling, normative influence, and conditional positive modeling hypotheses about the working mother's effect on her daughter's work orientation. Four hypotheses are postulated and tested separately by race to examine possible racial differences. The most complex hypothesis is that if modeling is conditioned by other characteristics of the mother than those considered, that modeling will be heightened by the following two characteristics: increasing the work orientation of girls with working mothers, and decreasing the work orientation of girls with nonworking mothers. It is also hypothesized that white girls' work orientation is more likely than black girls' to be a function of commitment to the exclusive homemaker role. Data from a 1973 urban population of black and white high school girls and a sample of their mothers revealed no evidence of either simple positive modeling or normative influence, but simple negative modeling occurred for black girls whose mothers worked in blue collar jobs. Conditional positive modeling is evident for all girls. Findings are contrasted with those from studies of male achievement socialization, which are said to stress the importance of direct normative influence. (Author/AM)