Social-economics, community, campus and family: a nationwide empirical investigation on the association between adverse childhood experiences and early career choice of youths and adolescents

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the influences of childhood experiences (childhood social-economic situation, childhood community and campus quality, childhood family climate) on early career choice. Using the data of a large-scale nationwide stratified random sampling survey of life history across 28 provinces and municipalities in China, empirical results show that the lower quality of childhood experiences would increase the likelihood that youths choose to work in the public sector after adulthood. Also, male youths are generally more sensitive to the childhood experiences than female ones. Youths with migration experiences are generally more sensitive to the childhood family climate (and less sensitive to the childhood community/campus quality) than those that never migrate. Moreover, such influence is distinctly reflected in the choice of the first job, and gradually recedes into insignificance for the choice of the second and third job.