In this section of the website, I will examine the positive impact 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 positive affects that teenagers experience in their social, economic, and academic realms. First I will describe the positive social aspects of work that teenagers will encounter. Second, I will discuss the monetary benefit of teenagers working. Lastly I will discuss the academic advantages that working teenagers will have over the non-working teenagers.

Social Aspects of Teenagers Working

There are many positive aspects for teenagers that work during high school. Increased social skills are just one of those aspects that benefit teenagers. There have been many studies conducted on the positive social aspects a teenager acquires while being in the working world. Most of these studies have stated that there is an increase in punctuality, dependability, and personal responsibility among teenagers (Kablaoui & Pautler, 1991). Also, a teenager will acquire more developed social skills that may impact all aspects of life such as school and ability to develop friendships or get along better with teachers, or in everyday social life with friends and the teenager's ability to interact and support their friends.

According to a study done by Finch, Mortimer, Shanahan, and Ryu (1991), found that the effects of work experience on control orientation in adolescents. They found that the quality of work (i.e., its stressful and rewarding character) is a more important determinant of adolescent psychological functioning than either work status or its intensity (Finch et al., 1991). Finch et al., (1991) also found that there was evidence suggesting that the quality of tenth-grade work experience is a source of adolescent mastery orientation for both genders. These researchers also found that, "Complex work that requires self-directed though has beneficial outcomes, increased adult self confidence, self esteem, intellectual flexibility, and involvement in work; lessening anxiety and fostering self directed orientations and intrinsic occupational values" (Finch, et al., 1991). In another research article by Bailey (1992), describes what the effects are of working teenagers. Bailey (1992) found that in addition to increased spending power, youth employment is viewed as an important step between adolescence and adulthood, providing vocational experience, adding responsibilities and independence, and possibly reducing financial dependence on parents. In this same article, the Work-Education Consortium of the National Manpower Institute in the U.S. identified eight benefits of work for youth: sustained exposure to a particular career, adult work attitudes and habits, interaction with adults, responsible behavior, mastery of non-classroom skills and problem-solving techniques, citizenship skills and attitudes, increased academic motivation, and lifelong skills (Bailey, 1992). The last study I found that supported development of positive social skills is by Steinberg, Fegley, & Dornbusch (1993) and discovered that in regards to work and autonomy from parents, non-workers were more closely monitored by parents and workers were granted more decision making freedom. Also, in regards to work and internalized distress, teenagers who worked moderate hours had fewer psychological and somatic symptoms (Steinberg, et al., 1993).

Economic Aspects of Teenagers Working

There are also several economic benefits to employment for teenagers. It is stated that working teenagers have exhibited increased earning power, lowered unemployment rates after graduation, and teenagers found better jobs after graduation (Kablaoui & Pautler, 1991). In a different research article by Mortimer, Finch, Shanahan, and Ryu (1991), states that the benefits of intensive work, those who worked longer hours, had greater confidence in ability to find and keep a job after graduation. In a web site by Fortin (1996) states research done by Nicole Champagne suggests that 76.8% of working teenagers want to gain job market experience from their jobs working as teenagers. Champagne asked the participants in this study, "If your parents were to give you the same amount of money you work for every week, would you go on working?" The answer was yes from 69.7% of senior high school students, showing just how important young people feel their work to be. Economic factors are not necessarily the most important motive for wanting a job: sometimes young people are looking for additional training or preparation for the job market (Fortin, 1996).

Also, I found a website that showed the benefits of teenagers working:

• Earn money for themselves and family expenses.
• To gain valuable time management skills.
• To gain valuable interpersonal and occupational specific skills
• To develop discipline.
• To demonstrate responsibility.
• To enhance self-confidence and self-esteem. (Mortimer, et al., 1991)

Academic Aspects

In addition to the social and economic benefits of work, it also affects academic aspects as well for the teenager. According to Kablaoui and Pautler (1991), teenagers gain practical knowledge about the business world and have suggested that there are improved grades, school attendance and participation in school-related activities. In a website entitled, Child and Family Canada says that the Higher Education Council has found that those who work less than ten hours a week do better at school (Fortin, 1996). Also from this same web site, researchers from the CECM (Montreal Catholic School Board) have shown that there is a link between time spent studying and academic performance. They have found that school-leavers who work between five and ten hours a week get better grades. Fortin (1996) also found out the reasons from high school students of why they work (in descending order of importance):

• To develop a feeling of independence and a sense of responsibility (16.7%).
• To buy clothes (16%).
• To be independent of parents (10.9%) (Fortin, 1996)

Among junior high school students (including those in special streams) the reasons were in descending order of importance:

• To buy more clothes (20.2%).
• To develop a feeling of independence and a sense of responsibility (11.9%).
• To buy a car or a motorcycle (10.1%). (Fortin, 1996)

This is important in regards to academics, because there is a growing trend of teenagers going to work to make money, causing the teenager to have less time studying for school. It is interesting to see what motivates teenagers to work instead of spending that time studying. In a research article online by the Harvard Education Letter, Research Online by Karen Kelly (1998) entitled, Working Teenagers: Do After-School Jobs Hurt?, some researchers say that the most successful job experiences are those that are closely linked to an official school program. Often called School-to-Work or Work-Based Learning, these partnerships between school and industry provide students with learning experiences in a real world atmosphere that can, in turn, strengthen their academic understanding (Kelly, 1998). The majority of teenagers that work in this type of job have a more positive attitude about work and fewer academic problems than those whose jobs are not linked to a school program (Kelly, 1998).

Conclusion

As I discussed in a previous research summary about the negatives of having your teenager work, there are also positives that I have discussed in this research summary. There are positives that affect the teenager in regards to the social, economic and academic aspects. Working helps the teenager go through this difficult time of trying to find their identity and where they fit in society.

There are also some safe guards that parents can take in making sure that their teenager has an enjoyable and gratifying experience while working according to a web site article entitled, Our Kids Parenting Report: Working Teens (Russo, 2002):

• Limit hours kids can work
• Grades should always come first.
• School is a job in itself.
• Teach job skills at home.

If parents implement these safe guards, then it is more likely that their teenager will succeed at school, allowing them to have all of the positive aspects as discussed in this summary.