Adolescent transitions to young adulthood: Antecedents, correlates, and consequences of adolescent employment

The antecedents, correlates, and consequences of adolescent employment were investigated in a sample of 251 low-income, African American youth that we re followed since birth. The youth (age: M at preschool = 4.89, SD = .70; M at adolescence = 16.44, SD = .66; M at transition to adulthood = 19.36, SD = .76; and M at early adulthood = 27.67, SD = .75) were the firstborn chil dren of African American teenage mothers who gave birth in Baltimore in the 1960s. Analyses examined the antecedents and correlates of age of entry in to employment and stability of employment during adolescence. The associati ons of adolescent work experiences with subsequent adult education and empl oyment outcomes also were considered. Findings indicate that among this sam ple of low-income, African American youth, those who repeated a grade in sc hool during middle childhood were more likely to enter the workforce at lat er ages than their peers who did not repeat a grade. The small subset of ad olescents who never worked (n = 12) appear to be markedly more disadvantage d than their peers who worked. At the transition to adulthood, adolescents who entered the workforce earlier were more likely to complete high school than their peers. In addition, stable employment during the adolescent year s had more beneficial effects on young men's chances of attending college t han young women's postsecondary education. This pattern of findings is cons istent with ethnographic accounts of adolescent employment among poor, mino rity, urban youth.