Adolescents and the workplace.

Adolescents have always played a major role in the workplace, whether using employment to add to the family's income needs or to provide the adolescent with "extra" spending money. Although employment affords many positive aspects to today's youths (including improved self-esteem and practical, real-world skills), there are many potential risks faced by the working adolescent. Workplaces create physical risks for disability, and adolescents who work long hours do so to the detriment of their social and educational obligations. Physicians should be aware that teens are working in record numbers, they should take careful occupational histories, and they should be aware of the pitfalls common to employment in their area (farm hazards in rural communities versus homicide and personal injury risks in an urban area, for example). Physicians should join with other authority figures in communities to push for the safest working environments possible for their adolescent patients.