Summer Youth Employment Programs for Health Promotion

Preliminary evidence suggests that summer employment can be an age-appropriate, structured intervention to prevent unhealthy changes in obesogenic behaviors among adolescents. While these findings are promising, none of the existing studies have measured changes in BMI over the summer or conducted comprehensive assessments of obesogenic behaviors, including diet, sedentary behavior, sleep, and physical activity. To address these gaps, this study proposes a small proof-of-concept study to assess the initial signal of effectiveness on understudied obesity-related outcomes in adolescents. SYEPs are well-established, continuously operating initiatives over 60 years with proven benefits in academics, workforce development, and crime prevention, and may also act as obesity prevention strategies. Rather than creating new interventions, investing in and expanding access to SYEPs-programs with high demand yet limited capacity (with only \~28% of applicants matched with jobs each summer, leaving the majority on waitlists)-can offer a practical solution for youth obesity prevention.