For the 1997-1998 school year, 33.4 percent of students, ages 14 to 16, held a job with an employer (this "[e]xcludes freelance work, such as babysitting or mowing lawns").  While 15.1% of all students in this age range had jobs only during the summer, 18.3% were employed during the school year. 

(Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Experience of Youths: Results from a Longitudinal Study, USDL OO-353, December 7, 2000, in U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2001 [121st edition], Washington, DC, 2001, p. 53.)

"I think a lot of kids today get confused about coaching and criticism. It starts where there's a lack of discipline in school, where coaches at an early age-recognize a kid's talent-and they won't tell him what is right and what he needs to hear. They accommodate him."

(Source: Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers coach Larry Brown in The Press of Atlantic City, June 16, 2001, quoted at http://www.nba.com/finals2001/quotes_sixers_010614.html?nav=ArticleList.)

Adolescent employment has been associated with both negative and positive effects, ranging from increased achievement to more frequent substance abuse.  With high school students regularly working as many as 20 hours per week by the time that they reach their senior year, the authors of this new study seek to compare the experiences of nonworking teens with peers who worked at least two hours a week.

Whereas most previous studies have been completed reporting on adolescents who work in excess of 20 hours per week, the University of Miami researchers found similar negative effects among students who worked far less:  employment was associated with more depression (.23, p<.05); inferior relationships with parents and best friends (-.42, p<.001); lower grade point average (-.20, p<.05); and positively associated with smoking (.27, p<.01).

Working as few as 2 hours a week was further associated with being enrolled in honors classes less often than those who did not work (32% vs. 68%, p<.01), less time spent with family (p<.05), and reduced parental conversations and touch (p<.01 for both measures).  Interestingly, working teens also spent more time doing chores (.40, p<.001).

The high school students reported upon in this study were from a largely middle and upper middle class socioeconomic status, and, as such, had no real financial need to work.  In the face of this study, whatever potential benefits that may be gleaned from teens working may be offset by serious repercussions: instead of leading to increased self-esteem and independence, adolescent employment may actually foster increased depression and dependence on nicotine.

(Source: Shay Largie, Tiffany Field, Maria Hernandez-Reif, Christopher E. Sanders, and Miguel Diego, "Employment During Adolescence is Associated with Depression, Inferior Relationships, Lower Grades, and Smoking," Adolescence, Vol. 36, No. 142 [Summer 2001]: 395-401.)