The Impact of Adolescent Employment on Family Relationships

Abstract

The present investigation examined the impact of adolescent employment on family process. Data collected from 725 adolescents were employed to compare mean levels of maternal and paternal familyprocess scales (caring and trust, control and supervision, conflict, intimate communication, and instrumental communication) across three categories of adolescents: nonworkers, low-intensityworkers (less than 20 hours per week), and high-intensityworkers (20 or more hours per week). Most maternal and paternal familyprocess scores followed a curvilinear pattern across the three work intensity groups, with low-intensityworkers reporting the highest levels of familyprocess (e. g., caring and trust), high-intensityworkers the lowest levels, and nonworkers in between. LISREL analyses, which were used to test for similarities and/or differences in developmental process bysex and age, confirmed that relationships between work intensity and familyprocess were highlysimilar for males versus females and for younger adolescents versus older adolescents.

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