WORK EXPERIENCE &MENTAL HEALTH--A PANEL STUDY OF YOUTH

University Of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

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Abstract

This proposal requests support for continuation of an eight-year longitudinal study, the "Youth Development Study," whose purpose is to assess the consequences of work experience during adolescence for early adult mental and physical health, socioeconomic achievement, and social/behavioral adjustment. Surveys have been administered each year since 1988 to a panel of young people, studies from the age of 14-15 to 21-22. This panel initially consisted of 1,000 ninth graders who were selected randomly from the St. Paul, Minnesota public schools; 77.6 percent have been retained through 8 years. It is proposed that this panel continue to be studied through the transition to adulthood, to the age of 26-27, to investigate the long-term consequences of adolescent work. There are two primary objectives. The first is to assess whether early work constitutes a source of stress resistance, "steeling," or protection in the face of subsequent life stressors, especially those encountered at work. Alternatively, early work experience could be a stress-sensitizing factor, if it occurred at a time when the adolescent was not developmentally ready. The second objective is to investigate whether early work experience fosters health-related outcomes by enhancing the development of human and social capital; or whether it detracts from early adult well being by curtailing post-secondary schooling, lessening attainment prospects, and hastening the transition to adulthood.