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Work Intensity and Academic Success

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Handbook of the Sociology of Education in the 21st Century

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Abstract

In this chapter, we review prior research examining how teenage work intensity, indicated by the average hours of paid work, its quality, and duration, relates to both short- and longer-term success in school. We examine the evidence for three plausible propositions: (1) that work intensity in adolescence has a causal effect on school achievement and educational attainment; (2) that these effects are moderated by gender, race/ethnicity, and family socioeconomic background; and (3) that the relationship between work intensity and academic success is spuriously related to preexisting differences between students. We also highlight shifts in the employment experiences of teenagers over the past 20 years based on cross-sectional data from the Monitoring the Future study, we offer four suggestions for future study, and we discuss implications for policy based upon what we know now about the intensity of teenage work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Jeremy Staff

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Jeylan T. Mortimer

  3. Department of Sociology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

    Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson

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  1. Jeremy Staff
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  2. Jeylan T. Mortimer
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Correspondence to Jeremy Staff .

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  1. College of Education, Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Barbara Schneider

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Staff, J., Mortimer, J.T., Johnson, M.K. (2018). Work Intensity and Academic Success. In: Schneider, B. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Education in the 21st Century. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76694-2_15

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