Criminology Research Council grant ; (12/85)
The report of this project was prepared by Hilary Read, a Research Fellow, under the supervision of Dr Christine Alder. The recurring life pattern for many adolescents in Youth Training Centres (YTCS) is one of wardship, unemployment, offending and institutionalisation. One aspect of current deinstitutionalisation policies is to alter this pattern by developing meaningful, long term employment for these young people. This objective is supported by criminological theory and research which indicates the importance of employment to the development of attachments and commitment to conventional society. The objective of the present exploratory study was to provide qualitative data which might indicate why some YTC releasees develop stable employment patterns and others do not. Such information is essential for the development of employment policies and programs for these youth, and hence potentially their future life patterns.
Data were collected from three sources: youth releases from YTCs into employment (11 males and 10 females); professional staff working with such youth; and employers of YTC releasees. Youths were interviewed and administered structured questionnaires, where possible, before leaving the YTC. Further in-depth interviews were conducted three months after their release. Interviews were also conducted with employers and professional staff.
The results indicate that few young people (5 of 21) remained in the same job in which they were placed when they were released from YTC. Some young people (7 of 21) remained in employment even though they changed jobs. However, just under half of the subjects (9 of 21) held jobs for a very short period of time and did not find further employment. That is, three employment patterns became clear in the data: Job Retained, Employment Retained, and Unemployed. The youths in these categories were not distinguishable from each other in terms of background characteristics such as level of education and prior employment history.
In explaining job loss the different groups who were interviewed emphasised different factors. The youths focussed on problems with the job itself: the youth workers spoke in terms of personal characteristics which they often related to difficult life circumstances; the employers gave work related matters (such as absenteeism, avoidance of work and arriving late) as reasons for final dismissal but often explained these in terms of peer influences or difficult life circumstances; and professionals in related areas spoke of the importance of the quality of the job, and the lack of supportive services.
While different factors were emphasised by different groups, seven factors emerged from across the interviews as most important for understanding the problems of job retention for these youths: the type of job, the level of training, support, emotional and personality problems, institutionalisation, stigma and peers.