The Impact of School Supervision of Work and Job Quality on Adolescent Work Attitudes and Job Behaviors

Abstract

In this study, the effect of school intervention in adolescent work experience and job quality on adolescent work attitudes and negative job behaviors was examined. These analyses are based on a longitudinal survey of youth conducted as part of a National Center for Research in Vocational Education study that included nearly 1800 high school age participants. While youth who worked in school supervised work experience reported higher job quality on most dimensions, there was no independent effect of school intervention on job attitudes and behaviors. The results of this study support the contention that job quality matters in adolescent work. Of the nine elements of job quality, jobs where SCANS skills were learned were the most consistent predictor of positive work attitudes in the baseline and follow up surveys. The young workers’ relationship with a supervisor and absence of learning SCANS skills were the most consistent predictor of negative work attitudes and negative work behaviors. The authors argue that policy focus should shift more to the nature of the workplace in which young people labor, rather than exclusively on how many hours young people work.