Abstract:Objective To investigate the impact of motherhood on career development among female nurses and analyze its influencing factors, thereby providing evidence for developing career support strategies.Methods Using convenience sampling, 725 married female nurses from six hospitals in Hubei Province were surveyed between January and February 2024.Validated instruments were administered, including the General Information Questionnaire, the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, the Work-Family Support Questionnaire, the Work-Family Enrichment Scale, and the Motherhood Impact on Career Development Inventory.Results The median score of motherhood impact on career development was 3.2(2.9,3.4).The scores of childbirth impact on career deve-lopment were positively correlated with psychological resilience, work-family support, and work-family enrichment of motherhood impact on career development (all P<0.05).Multiple linear regression analysis identified age, number of children, psychological resilience, work-family supportand work-family enrichment as key predictors (all P<0.05).Conclusion The motherhood impact on career development among nurses is at medium level and is affected by multiple factors.Nurses and managers can formulate optimization strategies based on interventable factors to increase nurses′ work engagement and professional self-confidence, and reduce the impact of motherhood on their career development.