Adolescent Delinquent Behavior and Job Search Support

• In Event: Consequences of School Suspension, Delinquency, and Police Contact

Abstract

A substantial literature examines the effects of formal sanctions on later-life employment outcomes. However, individuals who have histories of adolescent delinquent behavior but who are never arrested, convicted, or incarcerated may also suffer diminished employment outcomes. In this paper, I test whether delinquency may result in informal sanctions stemming from an offender's social network. Relationships and their associated social capital are important in finding jobs, often regulating information about job openings and application processes. People in an adolescent’s life frequently know about offending that goes unnoticed by the juvenile justice system. Employed people are often less likely to assist someone they think would be an unreliable employee, so offenders may have difficulty mobilizing network ties. Delinquents may also accumulate more criminal, rather than legal, social capital by becoming embedded in networks that are less helpful for legitimate job search. To examine these issues, I use propensity score weighting to analyze 25 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (n≈16,000 at wave 1). I test whether the relationship between adolescent offending and adult employment is mediated by adolescent offenders' diminished access to job search support such as asking “friends/relatives” and “teachers/professors” for help finding their current job.

Author

• Angela Carter, University of California, Davis