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Pediatrics, June 2001 v107
i6 p1263
PROBLEMS SEEN FOR TEENAGERS
WHO HOLD JOBS.
JFL.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2001 American
Academy of Pediatrics
... For decades, the conventional wisdom
has been that it is great for teenagers
to hold after-school jobs
because it teaches them responsibility,
provides pocket money, and keeps them
out of trouble.
But, in a nation where more than 5 million
teenagers
under 18 work, a growing body of research
is challenging the conventional wisdom
and concluding that working long hours
often undermines teenagers'
education and overall development.
In the most important study, 2 arms
of the National Academy of Sciences--the
National Research Council and the Institute
of Medicine--found that when teenagers
work more than 20 hours a week, it often
leads to lower grades, higher alcohol
use, and too little time with their parents
and families.
Influenced by such studies, lawmakers
in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Alabama
and other states have pushed in recent
years to tighten laws regulating how many
hours teenagers
can work and how late they can work ...
A new study by the International Labor
Organization showed that American teenagers
work far more than teenagers
in most other countries. The study found
that 53% of American teenagers,
from the ages of 16 to 19, work in any
given week. In Japan, 18% of teenagers
aged 15 through 19 work, while in Germany,
30.8% of teenagers
in that age bracket work.
Greenhouse S. New York Times. January
29, 2001
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