Do Jobs Work? Risk and Protective Behaviors Associated with Employment among Disadvantaged Female Teens in Urban Atlanta

Abstract

Adolescent employment predicts lower educational engagement and achievement and greater engagement with risk behaviors. Most research has studied middle class rather than disadvantaged adolescents. We identified risk and protective behaviors associated with employment using data from a 3-wave, 12-month study of 715 low-socio-economic status female African American adolescents who were ages 15–21 at baseline. Adolescents who were employed at wave 2 (n=214) were matched with adolescents who were not employed at wave 2 (n=422) using nearest-neighbor matching on baseline factors within propensity score calipers on factors including marijuana use, sex while high, pregnancy risk, and socioeconomic status. We compared employed and non-employed teens on risk behaviors including marijuana use, sex while high or drunk, and a biomarker for semen exposure in the past 14 days. Employed teens were 44% as likely to say that their boyfriend is their primary spending money source and 43% as likely to be emotionally abused, but these benefits did not persist after employment ended. Six months after employment, employed respondents reported using marijuana 57% more often and had sex while drunk or high 2.7 times as frequently. Women who were employed at both waves 2 and 3 were 17% as likely to have their boyfriend as a primary source of spending money and 13% more likely to graduate high school, but they used marijuana twice as often, alcohol 1.6 times as often, had 1.6 times as many sexual partners, and had sex while high or drunk 2.3 times as often. Female teens who work may avoid potentially coercive romantic relationships, but they may buy drugs or alcohol with their earnings.

Reproductive coercion sometimes works: evaluating whether young African-American women who experience reproductive coercion or birth control sabotage are more likely to become pregnant

“…Our past research suggests that reproductive coercion has an economic dimension: we found Black female adolescents and emerging adults who rely on their partners for spending money, transportation, or housing are more likely to never use condoms and have unplanned pregnancies (Rosenbaum et al 2012 , 2016b ), but that employment is associated with reduced reliance on partners for spending money (Rosenbaum et al 2014a , b ). We expect that the economic recession induced by the COVID-19 pandemic will worsen reproductive coercion and birth control sabotage due to limited options: after decades of wage declines for Black women, the employment and earnings of Black women were disproportionately reduced during the previous economic recession (Laird 2017 ; Pettit and Ewart Pettit and Ewert 2009 ).…”

“…Finally, the survey was designed to assess health risk behaviors, such as alcohol misuse and safe sex behaviors, but the data omit important information about employment and schooling that may moderate the association between coercion/sabotage and unplanned pregnancy (Rosenbaum et al 2014a , b ). Women who have greater potential earnings, even if they are not currently employed, may be more likely to avoid pregnancy or discontinue coercive romantic relationships.…”

“…However, we do not know important indicators of participants’ future educational attainment and earnings, including high school grades, educational expectancies, or whether these participants are enrolled in college. The survey’s measure of educational attainment omitted post-secondary certificates and associates degree categories, which yield greater economic and non-economic returns than a high school diploma alone (Belfield and Bailey 2011 ; Rosenbaum 2012 ; Rosenbaum and Rosenbaum 2016 ), and could thus expand women’s options to avoid coercive relationships (Rosenbaum et al 2014a , b ).…”