EMPLOYMENT IN ADOLESCENCE

Youth employment is worthy of notice because the number of young workers is increasing in both developed and developing countries. Youth employment encompasses youths between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four working part-time or full-time for money, outside their family. Youths younger than fifteen working for money are regarded as child laborers; such labor is prohibited in many regions.

Youth laborers are, obviously, at the age of secondary schooling. Most of them take a part-time job to earn some pocket money after school. Some of them, mostly academic underachievers, discontinue formal schooling and take up a full-time job. According to Catherine Loughlin and Julian Barling, half of the youths between the ages of seventeen and nineteen in the United States have part-time or full-time jobs. In addition, many senior secondary students work around twenty hours a week, and about 10 percent of senior secondary students work more than thirty-five hours a week, just like full-time workers. Julian Barling and E. Kevin Kelloway found that 25 percent of Canadian youths in the seventeen to nineteen age group work more than twenty hours a week. Similar results were found for a developed city in Asia, Hong Kong. The labor participation rate for Hong Kong youths was 25 percent for those fifteen to nineteen and 78 percent for those nineteen to twenty-four.

Young people who work go through a growing process that is influenced by their working experiences. The impacts of youth employment are quite controversial.

Job Nature

Generally, job nature is an important subject of youth employment. The most popular jobs for school-age youths include private tutoring, baby-sitting, and jobs that require few skills and offer low wages and little opportunity for further career development.

These jobs include food services, manual work, retail sales, building construction, office work, and grocery stores. In food services, youth may serve as cleaners, waiters/waitresses, and cashiers. Youths involved in manual work mostly operate simple machines that require no licenses (e.g., copying machine, paper shredder, lawn mower). Duties in retail sales are very simple, such as selling clothes or accessories and checking stocks.

Negative Impacts

Although the duties arranged for young employees are straightforward and simple, there are still some hidden dangers. The dangers might cause bodily as well as psychologically harm. In particular, there are serious concerns about the impacts of working experiences on the youths' development. James R. Stone and Jeylan T. Mortimer emphasized in a 1998 article for the Journal of Vocational Behavior that early working experiences affect adolescents' mental health development in terms of adaptability. Many researchers have obtained both positive and negative outcomes of young employment. The most noteworthy result was that long working hours was particularly likely to cause negative impact on a youth's development. Adolescents who worked more than twenty hours a week were found to be more likely to have low academic standing, to abuse substances, and to be delinquent. Ellen Greenberger and Laurence Steinberg pointed out in their 1986 book When Teenagers Work that working adolescents engage in more deviant behaviors and school tardiness than adolescents who are not employed.

With reference to working adolescents' academic performance, M. R. Frone reviewed many articles and concluded that senior secondary students who spend more time working have poor results in their studies. The reason for this is that many of them cut down the time they spend on homework and study, as well as time spent participating in extracurricular activities. In essence, their school attachment declines, and the likelihood that they will pursue further education also declines, particularly for boys. The results of a 1995 study conducted by Linda P. Worley found that students working about three hours a week had good school results (an average grade point average [GPA] of 3.08). Those working ten to twenty hours a week achieved average grades (average GPA of 2.77). Students who worked more than twenty hours a week, however, had poor school results (average GPA of less than 2.5). Nevertheless, the students tended to deny the negative consequences. Out of 248 twelfth-graders, 62 percent said that working had no negative influence on their school results. Greenberger and Steinberg also found that the rate of school dropout was comparatively low for students who worked fewer than twenty hours a week. Twenty working hours a week, therefore, seems to be the threshold for the negative impact of employment on school adaptability.

Positive Impacts

Although there are clear negative impacts of youth employment, working also entails some positive effects, especially for academic underachievers. Observers increasingly accept the notion that working contributes to the personality development of young people. Working enriches young people's life experiences, thereby enhancing self-confidence, self-responsibility, self-discipline, self-initiation, self-esteem, and independence. Greenberger and Steinberg also noted that young workers acquire some skills that are not provided in school. Workplaces offer young people a real-life environment to examine and practice the knowledge and skills that they learned in school. Moreover, young people have the opportunity to experience adult society, which contributes to their social development in such areas as organizing skills and socializing techniques. Working might also encourage them to keep up with their studies, particularly when an employer suggests that the young worker improve his grades. Above all, working experiences help young people think about their possible career trajectories. Frequently, young people are influenced by their early working experiences and sometimes choose a similar or relevant job in the future. For both boys and girls, youth employment results in definite rewards, such as income, employment opportunities, and career prestige.

Money from Working

Among the practical rewards of employment, income is the most important matter to youths. Young workers realize that money relates to most things in their daily life and that the relationship between time and money is very significant. When young people earn money through their labor, they learn that working is the right way to use up their time. Moreover, an issue related to money that should not be overlooked is how young people spend their money. In Greenberger and Steinberg's study, the researchers found that half of the senior secondary students spent most of their income on their own needs, such as clothes, accessories, audio entertainment, and social activities. The researchers also found that about 82 percent of the students did not use their incomes for family expenditures. Hence, young workers are free to use their income, and this provides opportunities to learn about: spending money, saving money, personal finance arrangement, and the consequences of expenditures. All these areas help develop the person's character and individuality.

Parental Perspectives

Although employment offers many learning opportunities, the most difficult task for young workers is managing the pressure. The pressure might be caused by tight job schedules, poor working environments, boring tasks, conflicts with other roles, and autocratic supervisors. All are great challenges to young people whose abilities and mentalities are still immature. Some parents want to protect their children from such pressures so they will not allow their children to work. Other parents do not allow their children to work because they believe that early employment and drug abuse are interrelated. Some might also be threatened by the reduction in parental authority that occurs when their children claim independence because of their ability to make money. In fact, when young people are free to work and use their incomes voluntarily, they also desire to have more independence in other areas. Clearly, working means independence. If parents believe their children working is better than them staying at home, they are willing to accept this growing process of independence. The hardships of work are perceived to be positive mediators of the growing process.

Young workers in the stage of learning and working need guidance and assistance from their parents to resist the negative impacts of work. Parents should also monitor the problems their children face at work. Discussing with children their working abilities and attitudes and their personal finance arrangements could strengthen their outlook on work. Youths definitely need their parents to provide emotional support and suggestions of ways to handle the work experience during the adolescent years. In sum, parental supervision and limited working hours might be the best ways to prevent the negative impacts of youth employment.

See also:WORKING FAMILIES

Bibliography

Barling, Julian, and E. Kevin Kelloway. "Introduction." In Julian Barling and E. Kevin Kelloway eds., Young Workers: Varieties of Experience. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1999.

Frone, Michael R. "Developmental Consequences of Youth Employment." In Julian Barling and E. Kevin Kelloway eds., Young Workers: Varieties of Experience. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1999.

Greenberger, Ellen, and Laurence Steinberg. When Teenagers Work:The Psychological and Social Costs of Adolescent Employment. New York: Basic, 1986.

Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department. 1996 Population By-Census. Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1996.

Loughlin, Catherine, and Julian Barling. "The Nature of Youth Employment." In Julian Barling and E. Kevin Kelloway eds., Young Workers: Varieties of Experience. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1999.

Stone, James R., and Jeylan T. Mortimer. "The Effect of Adolescent Employment on Vocational Development: Public and Education Policy Implications." Journal of Vocational Behavior 53 (1998):184-214.

Worley, Linda P. "Working Adolescents: Implications for Counselors." School Counselor 42 (1995):218-223.

Wing LingLi