Work, Postsecondary Education, and Psychosocial Functioning Following the Transition From High School

Abstract

Through a two-wave panel study of emerging adults, the authors examine how living situation, work and school roles, and experiences in those roles affect psychosocial functioning following the transition from high school. Enrollment in college programs and fulltime work are associated with lower levels of depressed mood and more positive quality of life. Disruptions in work roles (getting fired, an unwanted period of unemployment) are linked to higher levels of depressed mood, heavy episodic drinking, and poorer quality of life; the negative effects of disruptions in postsecondary schooling are confined to heavy episodic drinking. Open-ended data support the view that ongoing responsibilities are important for emerging adults'sense of progress toward adulthood. Findings linking heavy episodic drinking to problems in role functioning inform recent debates concerning the developmental import of alcohol use, suggesting that heavy drinking is not developmentally harmless.