The Effects of Teenage Work Quality on Delinquency

• In Event: Developmental, Life-Course Research on Delinquency: Offending Trajectories and Patterns

Abstract

Studies of the potential risks and benefits of youth employment in the past have focused on the average hours of work involvement, largely ignoring whether job quality matters. Yet research focusing on adult employment typically includes a breadth of information on the quality of the employment. Similar to Sampson and Laub’s (1993) argument for adult work, the quality of youth employment experiences could influence the level of attachment felt towards a job. This attachment, in turn, places the job in a position to act as an additional institution of informal social control to reduce the involvement in delinquent activities. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this study examines the effects of hours worked, job duration, hourly pay, job satisfaction, and supervisor age on delinquency. Random and fixed effects models are used to investigate the between and within individual differences in the effects of these measures on delinquent behavior across time. Results show that supervisor age, pay, and satisfaction are significantly associated with lower levels of delinquency when comparing between individuals. However, only supervisor age retains marginal significance in the fixed effects models. The implications of these results will be discussed.

Author

• Kelsey Cundiff, Pennsylvania State University