Consequences of Part-Time Work on the Academic and Psychosocial Adaptation of Adolescents

Abstract

Part-time work is becoming a common fact of life for high school students. Furthermore, its short and intermediate term impacts on the academic and psychosocial adaptation of students between the middle and end of high school are fairly unknown. To compensate for this lack of information, students in Grades 9 and 11 were consulted and asked to complete standardized questionnaires. Longitudinal results (Grades 9 and 11) reveal that the most favourable pathway for academic adaptation was associated to the students whose number of hours devoted to a part-time job while attending school decreased between the middle (Grade 9) and the end of high school (Grade 11). Moreover, the students who do not work as well as those who work a lot, experience costs and benefits on both academic and psychosocial levels. The conclusion discusses the importance of reinforcing every student's protective factors to better cope with the school—work tandem.

Le tandem travail-études est une réalité de plus en plus répandue chez les adolescents du secondaire. Par contre, ses impacts à court et à moyen termes sur l'adaptation scolaire et psychosociale de ces derniers sont très peu connus. Afin de pallier à ce manque de connaissances, des élèves en troisième et en cinquième secondaires ont été rejoints afin de compléter des questionnaires standardisés. Les résultats révèlent que le tandem travail-études s'avère un facteur de risque pour l'adaptation scolaire des élèves en troisième qui travaillent plus de onze heures par semaine, ce qui n'est pas le cas de ceux appartenant à la même catégorie de participants, en cinquième secondaire. Aucun coût réel associé à la conciliation travail-études n'a été observé sur l'adaptation psychosociale des adolescents et ceci, aux trois niveaux académiques. De plus, des résultats longitudinaux révèlent que le meilleur cheminement pour l'adaptation scolaire correspond aux élèves dont le nombre d'heures consacré à un travail à temps partiel durant les études diminue entre le milieu et la fin du secondaire. Par ailleurs, les élèves qui ne travaillent pas, de même que ceux qui travaillent beaucoup durant ces deux niveaux académiques, expérimentent des coûts et des bénéfices au plan de leur adaptation scolaire et psychosociale. La conclusion porte sur l'importance de renforcer les facteurs de protection de chaque élève afin de mieux faire face au tandem travail-études.

Keywords

part-time work adolescence academic and psychosocial adaptation

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