Part-Time Work and Deviance among High-School Seniors

A survey of two thousand high-school seniors in three Canadian cities reveals that teenagers with part-time jobs are somewhat more likely than those who are not working to admit to alcohol use and other illegal activity. This deviant behaviour cannot be attributed to the greater discretionary income which a part-time job provides or to a reduction in parental control. Instead, working teenagers are more likely to have friends who engage in illegal activity. This, in turn, may influence their own behaviour. However, the effects of part-time employment on deviance are not as large as those of traditional control theory explanatory variables. In addition, some of the illegal activity reported by teenagers will become acceptable as soon as they reach the legal age for alcohol consumption. Thus, while these effects of part-time work on teenage deviance are of interest (since they run counter to traditional beliefs that employment leads to more conventional behaviour), they must also be placed into context. Resume. L'analysed'un sondage aupres de deux mille eleves du secondaire avance dans trois villes canadiennes montre que les jeunes qui ont un emploi a temps partiel sont legerement plus port6s que les eleves sans emploi a consommer de l'alcool, et a commettre d'autres actes illegaux. Cette deviance ne peut pas etre attribuee a un plus haut revenu disponible chez les 6elves en emploi, ni a une supervision parentale moins grande. Par contre les jeunes en emploi ont plus tendence que les autre a avoir des amis qui ont activites illegales. Cela peut alors influencer leur propre comportement. Ceci dit, ces effets de l'emploi sur la deviance sont moins prononces que ceux des variables