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Differential selection or differential socialization? Examining the effects of part-time work on school disengagement behaviors among South Korean adolescents

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Abstract

Reflecting on the fast-growing number of adolescents involved in part-time work in South Korea, we pay special attention to the effects of part-time work on school disengagement in this age group. While research on this issue in Korea is still scarce, a handful of existing studies have documented the undesirable effects of part-time work on problem behaviors among adolescents. Conclusions on whether or not such undesirable effects stem from differential socialization formed through part-time work experiences remain controversial, however, because the issue of differential selection among the adolescent population involved in part-time work remains unsolved. Utilizing propensity score matching analyses among a sample of 1365 employed adolescents extracted from data from the Korean Education Employment Panel during a period between 2004 and 2007, we find that part-time work has significant undesirable effects on school disengagement behaviors among adolescents, even after controlling for preexisting differences between groups. Implications for research in terms of differential socialization perspectives and practical policies are discussed.

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Notes

  1. McCoy and Smith’s (2007) research exploring the effects of youth part-time work in the context of Ireland utilizes propensity score matching (PSM) techniques, which statistically address the differential selection issue. Similarly, Lee (2008) research using PSM investigates the effects of youth part-time employment in the USA.

  2. We note that some studies report certain positive effects of part-time work on young people in terms of learning new skills/habits (e.g., time management) and achievements. However, as far as problem behavior is concerned, a majority of previous studies consistently document the undesirable effects of part-time work on adolescents.

  3. Later, (Cloward and Lloyd 1960) proposed the term “differential opportunity systems” to synthesize Merton’s theory of opportunity structures and Sutherland’s theory of differential association.

  4. However, we also note some conceptual differences between social control theory and differential association theory. For example, social control theory does not accept the presence of “systematic variations in the motivation to delinquency,” while differential association theory emphasizes these systematic variations in the motivation to delinquency (Agnew 1995) insofar as they are shaped by differential opportunity structures.

  5. Seniors in middle school in Korea are equivalent to US ninth graders, and high school seniors are the same as twelfth graders in the United States.

  6. In the process of our extracting sample students with work experience, we ensured to sample only those who had part-time work experience first and the following school disengagement behaviors in terms of time sequence.

  7. The questions ask whether or not students have a teacher (1) whom they respect, (2) that cares about their aptitudes and their life after graduation, (3) whom they like, and (4) that understands their situation well.

  8. This scale consists of two sets of 15 questions about the parenting styles of both the fathers and mothers of participants. Example questions include, “they know where you are after school,” “they explain their decisions,” “they like to spend time with you,” “they express that they love you,” etc. The scale was originally designed by a group of experts in the Korean Research Institute of Vocational Education and Training (KRIVET) for the purpose of developing a contextualized scale of parenting styles in Korea. Some parts of the scale have been used by other studies using KEEP data (e.g., Kim and Lee 2010; Park 2008).

  9. The unit of currency before the log transformation was 10,000 Korean Won (KRW), which equals approximately $9 US dollars.

  10. We entered all the factors noted above, including school factors, family factors, and student factors.

  11. We note that Lee et al. (forthcoming) utilized the same panel data (KEEP) and the same set of variables in their study where problem behaviors, including drinking, smoking, and running away from home, were used as dependent variables.

  12. These results can also be interpreted as the net effects of part-time work on school disengagement behaviors given that preexisting differences were controlled by PSM, and that other background factors listed in Table 1 were also included in the logistic regression analysis in Table 2.

  13. Policy reports (e.g., Ministry of Gender Equality and Family 2010) and a fair amount of media coverage from major Korean newspapers (e.g., Chosun, KyungHyang) frequently report a number of social problems occurring in part-time work places where adolescents work. These include violations of the legal minimum wage, unequal treatment, sexual harassment, and illegal employment of minors at cafés or karaoke rooms for adults, among other examples.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate the comments of the anonymous reviewers for the Social Psychology of Education.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Science, Technology and Mathematics, University of Canberra, Building 6, Level C, Room 78, Canberra, ACT, 2617, Australia

    Moosung Lee

  2. Department of Sociology and Social Welfare, College of Social Sciences, University of Ulsan, 93 Daehak-ro, Nam-gu, Ulsan, 44610, South Korea

    Eunsu Ju

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Correspondence to Moosung Lee.

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Lee, M., Ju, E. Differential selection or differential socialization? Examining the effects of part-time work on school disengagement behaviors among South Korean adolescents. Soc Psychol Educ 19, 281–302 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-016-9333-2

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