In this section of the website I will examine the negatives of having your teenager work. This is an important topic because three fourths of high school teenagers are working more than fifteen hours a week on average, and this number is steadily rising (Grant & Snyder, 1984 in Artwater, 1988). This increasing prevalence is linked to many negative affects that teenagers experience while at the work place, during school, and at home with their family life. The framework I will use to talk about the negative affects of working teenagers. First I will describe the negative psychological problems and their effects, and then second, I will discuss the physical hazards that teenagers and their families must be aware of, then, finally, the economic issues that face teenagers on a day-to-day basis.

Psychological Problems

The increasing prevalence of teenagers going to work is linked to mental health in many different ways according to research conducted on this topic of working teenagers. The experience of problems and stressors in the work environment, work overload, and difficulties in managing diverse responsibility may translate into a general sense of ineffectuality, increased strain, depressive affect, and self derogation (Mortimer, J.T., Finch, M., Shanahan, M., & Ryu, S., 1991). Other psychological problems include anxiety, depression, tension, fatigue, insomnia, low self-esteem, and somatic complaints such as head aches, stomachaches, colds, etc (Mortimer et al, 1991). A prime contributor to these psychological problems is due to the work intensity. Most research suggests that teenagers working more than twenty hours a week are faced with more negative effects then their peers who are not working or working a limited number of hours. On the other hand, teenagers that work fifteen to twenty hours per week are faced with less negative psychological problems (Mortimer et al, 1991). Also, due to psychological problems and long hours faced at work, teens develop cynical attitudes that are developed towards work, which will inhibit their job performance among other things (Mortimer et al, 1991). In a report in Northwest News Channel by Gene Russo, an expert in labor relations, says that many kids feel pressured to work longer hours at work and as a result, grades suffer, "When their supervisor says, 'I have to have you work at night,' says Russo, "there's pressure, indirectly, that he doesn't want to say no or he'll lose his job" (Russo, G., 2002). This demonstrates the emotional and psychological strain that is exerted on the working teenager. Another research article by Harvard Education Letter Research Online, entitled, "Working Teenagers: Do After-School Jobs Hurt?: High schoolers who work more than 20 hours a week may be at higher risk for failure", states "Students who work longer hours report diminished engagement in schooling, lowered school performance, increased psychological distress, higher drug and alcohol use, higher rates of delinquency, and greater autonomy from parental control" (Steinberg, 1993 in Kelly, 1998).

Physical Hazards

This section has many different parts to it that blanket many different physical hazards with teenagers and working. Every year 70 teenagers die from work related injuries in the United States. Seventy thousand teenagers were hurt enough to go to the hospital. The hazards are broken up into different jobs that teens may have. One job that was cautioned is janitor and clean up jobs. Here, there may be toxic chemicals that are used for cleaning or blood on discarded needles. A second job that was cautioned was food service. Here, the teenager will be faced with slippery floors, hot cooking equipment, and sharp objects. A third job is retail and sales. There may be violent crimes such as robberies or lifting of heavy objects such as boxes or displays.

Other hazards include the high amount of work that teens do is correlated to less time devoted to extracurricular activities (Kablaoui & Pautler, 1991). This will affect the teen in many different ways such as increased body weight that leads to being lazy, causing problems with performing with work. Also, working affects the teenagers' tendency to become involved in delinquent behavior that includes increased rates of smoking, drinking, and stealing which could cause physical harm such as cancers, or gangs, or even jail (Kablaoui & Pautler, 1991).

Economic Problems

Family resource management consists of a series of decisions that reflect the values of household members. How money is obtained, attitudes towards money, and patterns of spending money as well as time affect adolescents' relationships with their families and family resource management in general. Patterns of spending money and time, many of which are established during adolescents, may continue into adult life (Bailey, 1992). Teenagers generally spend most of what they earn on themselves, usually not to save for long-term goals, and seldom contribute toward household responsibilities (Bailey, 1992). Working teenagers have also been found to develop attitudes of possessiveness toward free time and the income they earn (Bailey, 1992).

Another idea that has been discussed as a problem for teenagers that have entered the work force is consumer power. Employment often affects the way teenagers spend money in the future. In addition to employment earnings, the adolescent may even get an allowance from their parents. On average, males (ages sixteen to nineteen) earn $31.65 a week and receive $21.80 from their parents, making it a total of $53.45 (Bailey, 1992). They spend 81% on primarily dating, entertainment, transportation, and clothing, only saving $10.15 a week (Bailey, 1992). Females (ages sixteen to nineteen) earn $32.55 a week and receive $22.05 from their parents, making it a total of $54.60 (Bailey, 1992). They spend 83% on clothing, cosmetics, transportation, and entertainment, and only save $9.30 a week (Bailey, 1992). These figures are what bring me to my point that teenagers spend a lot more money then they save. Even more staggering the total that teenagers spend in the United States, which is seventy-nine billion dollars (Bailey, 1992). A teenager needs to be a rational consumer when spending their hard earned money, because they will not have any, or at least not a lot, saved up to go to college, or to buy school books, help out with family expenses, or some unexpected events such as birthdays. To add to this, I found a research article entitled Premature Affluence: Do High School Students Earn Too Much?, that conducted a study about teenagers and how they spend their money. The survey questions was: " When you think about the money you earned during the past year, including last summer, about how much of your past year's earnings have gone into…" on a scale of none, a little, some, or most respectively. (1) Saving for your future education? Forty-eight percent of males said none, and 50% of females said none. (2) Saving or payments for a car or car expense? Thirty-five percent of males said none, and 58% of females said none. (3) Other savings for long range purposes? Forty-eight percent of males said none, and 48% of females said none also. (4) Spending on your own needs and activities such as clothing, stereo, TV, records, eating out, or other recreation, hobbies, gifts for others, or personal. Four percent of males said none and 36% said most. Five percent of females said none, while 44% said most. (5) Helping to pay family living expenses? Fifty-six percent of males said none, and 55% of females said none (Bachman, 1983). This research done by Bachman indicates that teenagers rarely save the money that they have earned for future expenses, and is actually spent on materialistic objects that the teenager must have at that moment. According to Herrman (1982 in Bailey, 1992), a rational consumer will: (a) shop around looking for the best price instead of buying things impulsively; (b) actively seek information and advice about products with high prices and/or high perceived risks; (c) evaluate skeptically the selling claims made in advertisements; (d) budget expenses wisely; and (e) save money for the future (Herrman, 1982 in Bailey, 1992). Research also indicates that frequent communication with parents on consumption-related matters, frequent communication with peers, and newspaper reading also has direct and positive effects on the learning of consumer skills (Bailey, 1992).

Conclusion

From the research that I have found, there are many negatives to having your teenager work, from psychological to economic to physical problems or cautions. What I want you to take away from this research summary is that you must look at all the negatives that may influence your teenager when they enter the working world. Not all of the consequences are good. In another research summary on this website, I will explore the positives of having your teenager work.