A study traced the career development of 557 females from central Sweden who were participants in the Individual Development and Adjustment longitudinal study during its third year in 1968 (at which time they were in grade 6). The second part of the survey, which was conducted via a questionnaire mailed to all subjects when they were 26 years old, yielded a 90% return rate by all of the females who formed the original sample in 1965. Examined in the study were the girls' ability and school adaptation at ages 13 and 16, the relationship between family background to ability and school adaptation in early and middle adolescence, the relationship between career aspiration/choice to midadolescent ability/adaptation, and shared and differential life experiences in adulthood. The study established that parental values exert a strong influence on females' educational and occupational outcomes independent of parents' socioeconomic status and that high self-perceived ability, high adaptation to academic demands, and high aspiration were key to adult career achievement. (Appended is information about instruments used to measure the girls' ability and school adaptation at ages 13 and 16, their parents' values, and their interactions with their parents in midadolescence. Contains 39 tables and 137 references.) (MN)