Literatuur Exam 3
Chapter 7: Work, leisure and media
- Many of today’s teenagers spend more time in leisure activities than they do in school,
more time alone than with members of their family, more time each week on a part-
time job than on homework, and considerably more time online, texting with friends,
using social media, or watching television than in the classroom
- Adolescents’ free time in contemporary society:
o Development of compulsory schooling is one of the most important
contributors to the abundance of free time
With the spread of secondary schools during the early decades of the
20th century, adolescents were in effect barred from the labour force
opportunities for after-school employment were rare
One indirect effect of compulsory high school was to increase the
amount of free time available to young people (time that previously
would have been occupied by work)
Adults were worried about the free time of adolescents establish
various youth clubs and activities to occupy teenagers’ ‘idle hands’
Organized leisure became an institutionalized part of
adolescence as a supplement to school and a replacement for
full-time employment
o Increased affluence of Americans following WW2 was a second influence on
the rise of free time for adolescents
Invention of the ‘teenager’ and the discovery of teenager by those in
advertising and marketing changed nature of adolescence
As they gained more autonomy – became consumers with
plenty of discretionary income
o Over the last 50 years: significant decline in the proportion of time devoted to
paid jobs; significant increase in time devoted to leisure
Study:
Students who spent lot of time academics – highest on measures
of adjustment
Students who spent lot of time social – poorest school
performance and highest level of problem behaviour
Students who spent lot of time TV/computer – lowest levels of
intrinsic motivation
Students who spent lot of time maintenance/work – not said
Study:
1/3 of students (especially busy group) spent considerable time
across entire range of pursuits
1/4 of students similarly busy but did not hold a paying job
12% in 9th grade and 20% in 12th grade devoted substantial time
to paying job but little time on other activities
15% no time in work or extracurricular activities, but
substantial amount of time hanging around with friends
Teenagers who were busy 9th graders were likely to be busy
throughout high school
, o Overall: adolescents’ free time not best thought of as zero-sum phenomenon
(involvement in one activity displaces involvement in another)
o There are well-rounded adolescents who have substantial time commitments
across many different activities, adolescents who tend to focus on one type of
activity (usually sports), and adolescents who don’t do much of anything
outside of school – similar patterns in many countries
o Relatively busier adolescents are better adjusted and more accomplished –
cause or consequence not clear
o Low-income minority youth: some forms of engagement were associated with
positive outcomes when combined with a second type of activity (athletics and
academics bv), but with negative outcomes if it was the only activity an
adolescent was involved in (athletics alone)
o Mixed extracurricular portfolio may be better for adolescents’ development
than one that only includes sports
- Adolescents and work:
o Working while attending high school especially common in 1980s: 1/2 of all
high school students; nearly 3/4 of all high school seniors
Less popular during beginning of 21st century
Today: lowest level in recent history
o The rise and fall of the student worker:
From 1925 on, secondary education became more widespread,
compulsory education laws were passed in most states (at least till 16
years), child labour laws employment of American teenagers
declined steadily during the first four decades of 20th century (1940: 3%
of high school students worked during school year)
2nd half of 20th century: growth of retail and service sectors of economy
(part-time, low wages, short work shifts) proportion of working
adolescents rose dramatically during 1970s
Recent trends in adolescent work:
The trend of student holding jobs during the school year began
to reverse itself about 30 years ago
o Policy makers began calling for tougher standards in
high school (homework requirements when they were
out of school)
o Just as adolescent workers became increasingly in
demand as the service economy expanded during the last
half of the 20th century, the retraction of the economy
during the first decade of the 21st century increased
competition for the same jobs that teenagers could have
just for the asking a couple of decades before
o Immigration brought the US many adults who were
willing to take the part-time, minimum-wage jobs that
had been the mainstays of the student employment
o The growth of new technologies during the first part of
the 21st century expanded leisure opportunities for many
, teenagers (many of whom simply preferred to spend
their free time online rather than behind a cash register
Studies of student workers conducted during the 1980s and
1990s indicated that the vast majority of student workers were
middle-class youth who were working because they wanted to,
not because they had to, to earn money for extras, rather than
necessities
o As more and more attractive (and relatively inexpensive)
leisure options became available, and as the economic
benefits of working declined, teenagers saw less reason
to take on after-school jobs
Student employment varies from county to country! (common
in Canada and Australia, nearly unheard of in Japan or Korea,
rare in France, Italy and Spain, common in UK, NL and
Sweden)
o The adolescent workplace today:
Older students are more likely to hold formal jobs (retail or restaurant
work) than are younger students, who are more likely to hold informal
jobs (baby sitting or yard work)
60% of 8th graders – babysitting or yard work
More than 50% of older teenagers – restaurant work (counter
worker bv) or retail sales work
The adolescent work environment:
Few jobs permit adolescents to behave independently or make
decisions; they receive little instruction from their supervisors,
and they are rarely required to use the skills they have been
taught in school
o Repetitive, monotonous and intellectually unchallenging
o Adolescents in better jobs, in which they can learn
genuinely useful skills, benefit from employment
Teenagers themselves not so negative – describing jobs
favourably, learned things, liked the people, had opportunities
to exercise responsibility, satisfied with their pay (compared to
school more – jobs more satisfying; earning money and having
responsibility – feel better about themselves and positive
description of their work experiences)
o Employment and adolescent development:
The development of responsibility:
Most people believe that working builds character, teaches
adolescents about the real world, and helps them prepare for
adulthood generally not supported by research
o Surprising little evidence that holding a job makes
adolescents more responsible
o Some research has found high rates of misconduct on
the job among adolescent workers (stealing from
, employers, lying about the number of hours worked),
especially when work is not closely supervised by adults
People’s recollections of what they learned from working as
teenagers are far more positive than many studies of adolescent
work indicate – learn things like punctuality, ways to deal
effectively with strangers, cope with work one didn’t
necessarily want to do
Money management – few teenagers exercise a great deal of
responsibility when it comes to managing their earnings
o <10% of adolescents who work save most of their
income for future education
o Fewer use their earnings to help their families with
household expenses
The impact of working on psychological development depends
on the nature of the job
o Genuine responsibilities, make important decisions,
perform challenging tasks – more likely to feel more
mature, competent and dependable
o Repetitive, stressful, or unchallenging – gain very little
from the experience
It is possible for an adolescent to benefit psychologically from
working, but it is not probable
The impact on schooling:
The issue is not whether a teenager works, but how much
Long hours working
o More often absent from school
o Less likely to participate in extracurricular activities
o Report enjoying school less
o Less time on homework
o Slightly lower grades
o Because they are less interested in school and because
the working leads to disengagement from school
o Especially bad toll on achievement among White and
Asian students from middle-class families
o Increase the likelihood of dropping out of school
o Less ambitious plans for further education
o Complete fewer years of college
o Pay less attention in class
o Exert less effort on study
Working fewer than 20 hours per week does not appear to have
these adverse effects!
A large number of students are able to manage school and work
effectively, as long as they keep their work hours in check
Benefit from learning how to manage their time effectively
