Teenagers’ Work Can Have Downsides

The question of whether young people should be hired during the academic year was interesting for social scientists for decades. In 1975 when my colleagues and I began implementing the "Monitor the Future" project, we conducted a long-term survey of young people's lifestyles and values ​​across the country, and such employment and possible outcomes I raised a question about. For many years, we and other researchers have long believed that long-term high school students during the academic year have poor academic achievement and are likely to be involved in various problem behaviors, including crime, smoking and other drug treatments I believed it. It is obvious to students of Caucasian and Asian American, but weak for Hispanic students, yet weak for African Americans

But the problem always exists. Is the result of the work bad or is it a symptom of another more basic problem? At least some of the relevance between long-term work and problem behavior is widely believed to be a sign of the problem, such as poor adjustment to the school and great interest in short-term satisfaction. However, attempting to account for these previous differences has found some residual relevance related to the behavior of the problem that seems to be due to the work itself.

Working more than 10 or 15 hours is related to bad grades. Making lots of money at high school can cause "premature wealth" and bad expenditure habits.

Does this mean that all work paid during the academic year is bad? It is completely different. This survey also showed that students who need only a small working hour per week are better on average than non-students. why? Some young people who are unemployed have few employment opportunities in their area, others are not successful in finding employment or getting a job.

So what is the "sweet spot" of youth's work? The ideal seems to be a job requiring relatively few hours a week during the grade. For some results like substance use, less time is better. Our own longitudinal study shows the highest university graduation rate among high school graduates working less than 15 hours a week.

So what do the students do and what should their parents encourage? One starting point is that as long as you can reduce the number of hours per week to 15, 10 or less during the school year, the research clearly shows that it is good for the work to find a job.

I will offer two additional suggestions: First, try out the work you can learn some useful skills. This will help you and your boss receive the development opportunities offered by the work more seriously. Next, instead of treating most of the income as 'expenditure', I will spend most of my income on colleges and other long-term expenses. This avoids the risk of calling me "premature wealth", that is, the risk of acquiring discretionary spending habits that can not be maintained by full-time universities and young people.

One disadvantage of adulthood is that they are responsible for many families, such as earning income and raising children. They are free, but they can not spend leisure activities due to busy work and a lot of responsibilities.

It may be difficult for young people to balance work at school and extracurricular activities and work. Importantly, the adolescents can still get enough sleep and have time and environment to concentrate on their research. If you find the right balance, a combination of outstanding school performance and workplace skills can greatly enhance your child's chances in the future.

Teenagers benefit greatly from driving at the age of 16. If you acquire a driver's license as soon as possible, young people can work, enjoy extracurricular activities, or prepare for after-school life. A young man employed to learn how to work in the office. Employers prefer potential workers with practical experience. Work gives young people small mobile income. Young people who earn money learn precious skills to save money and personal finances. In addition to the ability to drive work, licensed teenagers can go back and forth on extracurricular activities. Clubs and sports allow children to discover and develop talent and interests. Teenagers find future careers with extracurricular activities. In addition, young people gain independence and life experiences from driving. When raising the minimum driving age to 18 years old, many high school students will not be able to drive before going to university.