The study was undertaken to identify dimensions, or motivational orientations that underlie reasons nurses participate in continuing education programs and to determine relationships between these orientations and the legal status of CE and selected demographic characteristics of participants. The sample included 843 nurses who participated in CE programs sponsored by colleges and universities with accredited baccalaureate schools of nursing. Two instruments were used for data collection: a 56-item checklist consisting of reasons for participation (Education Participation Scale) and a personal data sheet. Factor analysis of responses to the EPS indicated that seven motivational orientations underlay the nurses' reasons for participation: compliance with authority, improvement in social relations, improvement in social welfare skills, professional advancement, professional knowledge, relief from routine, and acquisition of credentials. Mean scores on each orientation for the entire sample ranged from 6.55 (professional knowledge) to 1.57 (improvement in social relations) on a 10-point scale. Analysis of variance to determine the relationship between motivational orientation scores and legal status of continuing nursing education revealed no differences among the three legal conditions studied---mandatory, proposed, and voluntary CE---except on the acquisition of credentials orientation. Scores on this orientation varied significantly (p less than .001), but only for respondents employed part-time; for these nurses mean scores were ranked mandatory, proposed, then voluntary. Study findings suggest that, for these nurses, the presence or threat of a mandatory CE law had little influence in motivating participation. Rather, these nurses participated in continuing nursing education programs for reasons related to maintaining professional currency and improving their ability to serve the public.