Today

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Todays Typical Teenager

• Spends more time in leisure activities than in
  productive activities
• Spends more time alone than with family members,
  prefers to be with friends
• Spends four times as many hours per week at
  part-time jobs as spent on homework

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Adolescents Free Time in Contemporary Society

• PostWorld War II affluence led to more free time
  for adolescents
• Targeted as consumers by marketing industry
• Leisure expenditures (movies or eating out)
• American adolescents spend more time on leisure,
  less time being productive than other countries
• American students spend lt 5 hours per week on
  homework
• In Asian countries4 to 5 hours per day on
  homework

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The Emergence of the Student-Worker

• Before 1925 most entered the workforce by 15
  years of age
• Adolescents were either students or workers, not
  both
• Proportion of high school students with part-time
  jobs rose dramatically between 1940 and 1980
• New jobs were created in retail trade and
  services (for low wages, short shifts)

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The Adolescent Workplace

• Most American girls baby-sit as their first job
• American boys usually do yard work as their first
  work experience
• For older adolescents the majority of work is in
  restaurants or retail sales

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Sex Differences in the Adolescent Workplace
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Characteristics of Teen Jobs

• On average high school
• Sophomores work 15 hours a week
• Seniors work 20 hours per week
• Little or no contact with adults
• Other workers are teenagers too
• Supervisor typically not much older than
  adolescent
• Many customers are teenagers too
• Few permit independent behavior or decision
  making
• Little instruction is received from supervisors
• Skills learned in school rarely used at work
• Jobs often are repetitive or boring, sometimes
  stressful, leading to injury and accidents

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Working and Adolescent Development

• Most people believe that working helps teens
  build character, teaches them about the real
  world, and prepares them for adulthood
• Recent studies show that benefits of working
  during adolescence have been overstated
• Premature affluence
• Working more than 20 hours/week may jeopardize
  school performance (absent more often, less
  involvement in extracurriculars, report enjoying
  school less, spending less time on homework,
  earning lower grades)

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Working and Adolescent Development

• Work and Problem Behavior
• Thought that working would deter teens from
  criminal activity by keeping them out of trouble
• Working long hours may actually be associated
  with increases in aggression, school misconduct,
  precocious sexual activity, minor delinquency
• Differential Impact of Work
• Middle classworking associated with problem
  behaviors
• Poor youthworking may not lead to problem
  behavior

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Problem Behavior and Work

• Adolescents who work are more likely to
• Use alcohol
• Smoke cigarettes
• Use drugs

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Occupational Deviance
Over 60 of working adolescents had engaged in at
least one type of occupational deviance after
being employed for 9 months
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Perceived Effects of Adolescent WorkPercentage
of Adolescents Indicating Benefits
Benefits Girls Boys
Responsibility 90.2 80.3
Money Management 65.7 57.4
Learned Social Skills 87.7 78.3
Work Experience Skill Development 43.4 42.1
Work Ethic 73.3 68.1
Independence 75.0 77.7
Time Management 78.6 74.5
Learned about life/ Shaped future 26.2 29.0
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Work and Psychological Functioning

• Up to 10 hours per week
• Not related to any psychological symptoms
• Little effect on adolescent development
• Beyond 10 hours per week
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Sleep per night declines
• Disruptive to eating and exercise habits
• Beyond 20 hours per week
• Problems become considerably worse

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Grade-Point Averages
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Relation Between Work Hours School Performance
Beyond 10 hrs/week, the more adolescents work,
the poorer their school performance.
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The Adolescent Consumer

• In 2001, teenagers spent 172 billion of their
  own money, and influenced billions in household
  spending
• Virtually all of a teens money is spent on
  purchases related to leisure activities
• Girls spend money on clothes, food, and
  cosmetics, in that order
• Boys use their money for food, clothes, and
  saving for big-ticket items
• Viral marketing
• Uses Internet sites such as MySpace and Facebook
  to target thousands of teens because of their
  influence over friends purchasing habits

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Percentage of Adolescents Watching from One to
Six or More Hours of Television a Day
Hours per Day 8th Grade 12th Grade
6 or more 14 7
4 to 5 27 18
2 to 3 45 46
1 or fewer 14 29
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Adolescents and Leisure
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Adolescents Free Time and Their Moods

• Distinction between Leisure and other
  activities
• Leisure activities chosen by teens
• Time at school and work chosen by others
• Experience Sampling Method
• Adolescents state of mind is more positive in
  structured leisure than when in classes or with
  friends

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Structured Leisure Activities

• Two-thirds of American high school students are
  in one or more extracurricular activities
• Athletics most popular in the United States
• Other popular activities
• Music (band, chorus, orchestra, glee club)
• Academic (science club, language clubs)

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Participation in extracurricular activities
benefits less competent students more than their
academically talented counterparts
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Unstructured Leisure Time

• Eight million U.S. school-aged youngsters are not
  supervised by parents after school.
• More arrests occur in school day afternoons
• Most studies show that latchkey children are not
  different from their peers in psychological
  development, school achievement or
  self-conceptions

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Leisure and the Mass Media

• Availability of media in young peoples homes is
  greater than previously thought
• Many adolescents view TV, listen to music, or
  play video games, all in their bedrooms
• The average adolescent spends nearly 7 hours each
  day using one or more forms of media

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Adolescents have access to a range of media in
their own bedrooms
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Media Preferences by Age Group
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Media other Socialization Sources

• Media is market-driven providers will provide
  adolescents with what they believe adolescents
  want

• Great diversity of media available
• Media socialization goes over the heads of
  other socializing adults

It is important to note Not all of the media
used by adolescents are contrary to the aims and
principles of adult society much of it in fact,
is quite conservative. What media reinforces
conventional values?
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Television and Aggressiveness

• Great deal of research attention focused on the
  extent to which television provokes violence in
  young people
• Majority of violent crimes committed by males
  aged 15-25
• 1960-1990 saw a rise in both violent crime and
  violent television programming
• Most of the research on the issue is
  correlational (cant prove causation!)
• Many field studies have been conducted to address
  the question

Does watching violence on TV cause adolescents to
become more aggressive, or are adolescents who
are more aggressive simply more likely to enjoy
watching violence on TV?
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Computer Games Aggressiveness

• A majority of adolescents favorite games involve
  themes of violence
• Studies have shown that playing violent computer
  games is related to heightened aggressiveness,
  hostility and anxiety

Do you play computer games? Which one (s)? Does
it contain violent themes?
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Leisure and the Mass Media

• Research shows that
• Exposure to violent television does lead to more
  aggressive behavior
• Exposure to images of sex does in fact affect
  adolescents attitudes about sex
• Exposure to images of drug and alcohol use does
  affect adolescents beliefs about these matters

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Sexual Portrayals on TV
Males Females
Preoccupied with sex Always ready and willing Recreational attitude toward sex Value men mainly for physical appearance, wealth and status Recreational attitude toward sex

• Research Summary (Cope-Farrar Kunkel, 2002)
• 82 of programs had sexual content
• Sexual behavior more frequent than sexual talk
• Sexual behavior between partners with established
  relationship (not married)
• Kisses and hugs Intercourse or nudity infrequent
• Discussion of sexual risk RARELY took place

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Music TV Basics

• MTV started in USA 1981 now broadcast
  worldwide. A global force
• American adolescents watch MTV approx. 15-30
• minutes a day
• Two categories

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Controversial Music Rap

• Rap is Black Americas TV station. It gives a
  whole perspective of what exists and what Black
  life is about (Decker, 1994, p. 103)
• Reggaeton

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Leisure and the Mass Media

• Research shows that exposure to images of drug
  and alcohol use does affect adolescents beliefs
  about these matters

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Big Tobacco Advertising

• Cigarettes are the second most heavily promoted
  consumer product in the USA, totaling Six billion
  dollars per year
• Is it targeted to adolescents?
• 90 of smokers start by age 18
• Ads present images of fun, independence, and
  coolness
• According to research, the effects of advertising
  on brand choice was three times as strong for
  adolescents as adults
• The three most popular brands are the most
  heavily promoted

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Adolescents Responses Cigarette Ads
See the pattern??
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Internet Uses by 12-15 year olds
Searching for information for school projects
Favor chat rooms on relationships and
lifestyle Or with friends on instant messaging
Boys more likely to play computer games
download music Girls more likely to visit chat
rooms and email
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What a Tangled Web.
Internet Benefits Internet Cautions
Access to information potential to enhance education Can be a source of positive social interactions opportunities to practice communication and engage in identity play, and finding answers to problems they may be facing Chat rooms sometimes frequented by sexual predators seeking to victimize children and adolescents Academic cheating via downloading or purchasing pre-written papers Promote social isolation (displacement effect) Cyber-Bullying
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Leisure and Sex-Role Socialization

• Sociologist Donna Eders study on sex-role
  socialization in high school extracurricular
  activities
• Athletics is the chief route to status for boys
  (emphasizes toughness, dominance, and
  competition)
• Cheerleading is chief route to status for girls
  (emphasizes good grooming, appearance, sparkle)
• Magazines aimed at girls focus
• on appearance, dating, being thin

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