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6.8: Teenagers and Working

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    Many adolescents work either summer jobs, or during the school year. Holding a job may offer teenagers extra funds, the opportunity to learn new skills, ideas about future careers, and perhaps the true value of money. However, there are numerous concerns about teenagers working, especially during the school year. A long-standing concern is that that it "engenders precocious maturity of more adult-like roles and problem behaviors" (Staff et al., 2011, p. 150).

    A group of young employees at Starbucks in the Taj Mahal Palace in South Mumbai, India.
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\). Teenage baristas. Image source.

    Several studies have found that working more than 20 hours per week can lead to declines in grades, a general disengagement from school (Staff et al., 2010; Lee & Staff, 2007; Marsh & Kleitman, 2005), an increase in substance abuse (Longest & Shanahan, 2007), engaging in earlier sexual behavior, and pregnancy (Staff et al., 2011). However, like many employee groups, teens have seen a drop in the number of jobs. The summer jobs of previous generations have been on a steady decline, according to the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (2016). See Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\) for recent trends.

    Graph of the share of 16- to 19-year-olds who are employed each month, at ten-year intervals between 1974 and 2014. The percentage has decreased every decade, but consistently peaks in the summer months..
    Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\). Percentage of teen employment every decade between 1974 and 2014. Image source.

    This page titled 6.8: Teenagers and Working is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.