The downside of adolescent employment: hazards and injuries among working teens in North Carolina

Occupational injuries are major adverse outcomes of teen employment in the United States. Using data from a survey of teens employed in three differen t retail trade settings (food service, grocery, and other retail) in the st ate of North Carolina, we examine how experience, gender, work setting, and the pace of work are associated with hazard exposures and injury experienc es. Multivariate analyses show that, after controlling for individual and j ob-level variables, perceived work-pace pressure and hazard exposure are po sitively associated with variation in the types of injury experiences. We e mphasize the need to include characteristics of the workplace and the labor process when assessing the adverse consequences of work on adolescent well being. (C) 2000 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescen ts.