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 re-
quire 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 employ-
ees are straightforward and simple, there are still
some hidden dangers. The dangers might cause bodi-
ly as well as psychologically harm. In particular, there
are serious concerns about the impacts of working ex-
periences 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 notewor-
thy result was that long working hours was particular-
ly 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 Teen-
agers Work that working adolescents engage in more
deviant behaviors and school tardiness than adoles-
cents 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 stu-
dents 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). Stu-
dents 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 adaptabili-
ty.Positive Impacts
Although there are clear negative impacts of
youth employment, working also entails some posi-
tive 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 experi-
ences, thereby enhancing self-confidence, self-
responsibility, self-discipline, self-initiation, self-
esteem, and independence. Greenberger and Stein-
berg also noted that young workers acquire some
skills that are not provided in school. Workplaces
offer young people a real-life environment to exam-
ine and practice the knowledge and skills that they
learned in school. Moreover, young people have the
opportunity to experience adult society, which con-
tributes 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 experi-
ences and sometimes choose a similar or relevant job
in the future. For both boys and girls, youth employ-
ment results in definite rewards, such as income, em-
ployment opportunities, and career prestige.Money from Working
Among the practical rewards of employment, in-
come 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 work-
ing is the right way to use up their time. Moreover,
an issue related to money that should not be over-
looked 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, per-138 EMPLOYMENT IN ADOLESCENCE