Adolescent Work and Crime

Shawn D. Bushway
Project Director

Robert J. Apel
Project Co-Director

Two research projects are currently being conducted:

"The Impact of Employment, Job Quality, and Labor Market Context on Adolescent Problem Behavior," sponsored by the National Science Foundation, will study the extent to which area unemployment and job quality affect adolescent problem behavior in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. The analysis will involve the use of state child labor laws as instrumental variables for youth work involvement, and an examination of whether conditions of the labor market and/or conditions of youth jobs moderate the effect of employment on antisocial behavior.

"Causality Between Youth Employment and Problem Behavior," sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, will map state-to-state variation in child labor laws at ages 16 and 17 onto changes in self-reported work and problem behavior for youths in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. Issues to be examined include what happens to problem behavior, job quality, and other dimensions of youth work as a result of the change in policy regime from federal to state laws at age 16.

Sponsoring agencies
National Science Foundation
National Institute of Child Health & Human Development

Contact information
Telephone: (518) 591-8738

E-mail: sbushway@uamail.albany.edu

FAX: (518) 442-5603

Write:

Adolescent Work & Crime Projects

Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center

University at Albany, SUNY

135 Western Avenue, DR-241

Albany, NY 12222