The study was based on Cherniss' hypothesis that the occupational stress and burnout a person experiences is influenced by the degree of fit between a person's career orientation and the actual work setting. Cherniss' typologies of career orientations are "self-investors," for whom work is secondary to their personal lives outside of work; the "social activist," for whom work is a crusade to change the status quo; the "careerist," for whom work is a competition with peers to obtain recognition, status, and financial rewards; and the "artisan," for whom work involves personal growth, professional development, challenge, and the mastery of new skills. An earlier study found that the "social activist" and "self-investor" were prime candidates for work dissatisfaction, alienation, and poor physical and emotional well-being later in their careers. Those with the "artisan" orientation appeared best equipped to meet the demands of policework and least susceptible to burnout. The present study found that about half the respondents changed their career orientations over time. Eighty-six percent who began work with a "social-activist" orientation changed their orientations; 21 percent of the "artisans," 54 percent of the "careerists," and 58 percent of the "self-investors" changed. The changes were mostly to either an "artisan" or "self-investor" orientation. Those who changed their orientation showed more stress and burnout symptoms than those who retained their initial orientation. 1 figure, 2 references. For the earlier study, see NCJ-123857.