Statistics indicate that underage drinking contributes to a variety of health and social problems in the U.S., including driving after drinking, injury and death resulting from alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, and a greater likelihood of alcohol abuse and dependency in adulthood. The total costs, including loss of quality of life, of alcohol use by underage drinkers have been estimated to be as much as $52 billion annually in the U.S. Because of these problems, researchers have been monitoring underage drinking in the U.S. for several decades, and they continue to find unacceptably high levels of drinking in the underage population. For example, in 2002 almost 80% of high school seniors had consumed alcohol at least once in their lifetime, 50% had consumed alcohol within the past 30 days, and 30% had consumed enough to be intoxicated within the past 30 days.

Concern about underage drinking has prompted a great deal of research in recent decades to improve our understanding of why adolescents drink and how to go about preventing this risky behavior. One of the most consistent and troubling discoveries is that the more adolescents work, the more they drink. To determine why work intensity contributes to heavier alcohol use among adolescents, we conducted studies with data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. We discovered that employment increases adolescents’ access to alcohol through increased personal income and time spent with older peers and adults who drink. Alcohol is more readily available to working adolescents because they have more disposable income with which to purchase alcohol themselves or obtain it indirectly through older peers and adults. Working adolescents spend more time with peers and adults who drink, thus increasing their perception that alcohol use and heavy drinking are normative and acceptable.

 

How Much Work is Too Much?

One very important concern for employment among adolescents is whether any amount of employment is too much. Does employment itself place the adolescent at risk? Or is there a level of employment that one could consider relatively safe? We discovered that working more than 10 hours per week significantly increases adolescents’ risk for alcohol use and heavy drinking. Working no more than 10 hours per week does not appear to pose any risk for alcohol use or heavy drinking. There appears to be an optimal amount of employment for adolescents that encourages responsible participation in the work force and minimizes alcohol-related problems.

 

Related Negative Consequences of Employment

Researchers have also discovered that the more adolescents work, the worse they perform in school. Data from our national studies reveal that adolescents who work more than 10 hours per week have a lower level of school commitment, a lower grade point average, and are less motivated to attend college than adolescents who work no more than 10 hours per week or not at all. Research also indicates that the negative effect of employment on academic performance is at least partly attributable to alcohol use. Thus, greater access to alcohol through employment not only increases the likelihood of intoxication, drinking and driving, and injury or death from alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes; it also has a detrimental effect on academic success.

 

Policy Implications and Issues

Findings from our national studies and prior studies on adolescent employment suggest that limiting adolescents work level to no more than 10 hours per week can help to reduce underage drinking, related health, social and academic problems, and economic costs. However, such a policy would likely face stiff opposition from the retail industry which relies heavily on youth who are willing to work flexible hours (e.g., week nights and weekends) for minimum wage and no benefits. Moreover, a popular belief in the U.S. is that employment helps adolescents to be more responsible, skilled, and prepared for adulthood than they would be if they were not working. Thus, restricting adolescents from employment may not be a realistic strategy for reducing underage drinking and related problems. Encouraging adolescents to remain in school and participate in part-time employment at reduced hours may be the best recommendation.

 

Directions for Future Research

More research is needed to better understand what occupations place adolescents at greatest risk for alcohol use and related problems, and what intervention strategies might be effective if targeted to those occupations, including how best to engage employers. We need to know more about how working adolescents obtain alcohol to determine, for example, how important personal income is relative to simply spending time with older peers and adults who provide informal access to alcohol. We need to know more about the extent to which adolescents obtain and/or consume alcohol illegally in the workplace. Knowing more about adolescents’ motivations to work also would help in the development of intervention strategies because adolescents seek employment for different reasons, which may affect their risk for alcohol use in concert with the work experience.

 

The Take-Home Message

Parents and others concerned about the welfare of young people should consider limiting adolescents work level to no more than 10 hours per week. This can help to reduce underage drinking, related health, social and academic problems, and economic costs.

 

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