Adolescent Work History and Behavioral Adjustment

The Effects of Work Intensity on Adolescent Mental Health, Achievement, and Behavioral Adjustment: New Evidence from a Prospective Study

“…Second, analyzing longitudinal data enables assessment of the stability of the mental health, achievement and adjustment criteria, and control of this stability in estimating the effects of work intensity. Third, fitst-wave findings are reported elsewhere (Mortimer et al, 1992a(Mortimer et al, , 1992b. By examining the interrelations of work experience and the criteria Subsequently, we can discern whether the patterns are consistent across the years of high school.''…”

“…However, as hours of work increased, ninth-grade boys and girls engaged in more alcohol use, smoking, and school problem behavior. Furthermore, cumulative work intensity (average hours of work per month since the first job) had detrimental implications for behavioral adjustment even with contemporaneous work intensity controlled (Mortimer, Finch, Shanahan, & Ryu, 1992b).…”

The dynamic between work values and part-time work experiences across the high school years

“…Adolescents may have little personal control over their part-time work experiences and this circumstance may impede cohesion and discrepancy reduction in the person-within-context unit at it pertains to work values and experiences (Mortimer et al, 1992a). The part-time work setting, therefore, appears to have a weak influence over vocational development, because adolescents’ appear to achieve and maintain much greater value system harmony than person-within-work context harmony during this period.…”

“…While one body of research suggests that part-time work during adolescence is associated with dysfunctional behaviors (e.g., Bachman & Schulenberg, 1993; Mortimer, Finch, Shanahan, & Ryu, 1992a; Paschall, Ringwalt, & Flewelling, 2002; Steinberg & Avenevoli, 1998; Wu, Schlenger, & Galvin, 2003), other research points to functional outcomes like the formation of work values associated with central work tasks (Skorikov & Vondracek, 1997), personal responsibility, and the development of social skills (Kablaoui & Pautler, 1991). Part-time work may even serve as a “steeling” context that prepares adolescents for the normative work distress experienced during young adulthood (Mortimer & Staff, 2004).…”

Young Women's Social and Occupational Development and Mental Health in the Aftermath of Child Sexual Abuse

“…Responses ranged from 1 (not at all true) to 4 (very true), with higher values reflecting greater opportunity. This series of questions is taken from the Michigan Quality of Employment Surveys (Bachman et al 1996) and other research focusing more specifically on young adults (Mortimer et al 1992a). Cronbach's alpha coefficient for this scale is .79.…”