Adolescents who work: Health and behavioral consequences of job stress.

Compared 212 10th and 11th graders holding their 1st part-time jobs with 319 youngsters who had never worked, with respect to self-reported frequency of psychological and physical health symptoms, school absence, and use of cigarettes, alcohol, marihuana, and other drugs. These aspects of health and well-being, along with job absence, were examined in the workers as a function of exposure to 6 types of job stress and to significant life changes. Findings indicate that workers, especially boys, reported fewer somatic symptoms than nonworkers; and that boys who worked under stress reported fewer somatic and psychological symptoms than boys who held less stressful jobs. Exposure to job stress was related to alcohol and marihuana use for both boys and girls. Although poor environmental conditions appeared to operate as a stressor for both sexes, some stressors were sex-specific: Constraints on autonomy adversely affected boys but not girls, whereas an impersonal work setting adversely affected girls but not boys. No support was found for the hypothesis that the effects of job stress are accentuated by more general life stress. These findings indicate that adolescents who work experience both benefits and disadvantages. However, closer examination of the apparent positive effects of working on boy's health suggests alternative explanations. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)