The study aimed at assessing rural youth participation in agriculture, their access to production resources and services and the effects of youths' access to inputs and services on farm productivity and youths' welfare. The study was conducted in three states (each randomly selected from the three agro-ecological zones of northern Nigeria). Two…

This policy is the first manifestation of the state's effort to organize youth to volunteer in rural China where the help is most needed. It emphasizes key tasks that can be accomplished by the volunteers in terms of education and training for rural China, especially through science and education. The Promotion Action reflects the mission of the…

Imagine a K-8 school in a remote corner of southern Appalachia with a student body that once qualified for 100 percent coverage of free and reduced school meals. Imagine a school budget far below the state and national averages and a well-worn building that has been in use for a half-century. This is the reality of Grassy Fork School in Cocke…

"Should I stay or should I leave my home region?" is one of the key life course questions that many young people must address as they grow to maturity. Social mobility increasingly presupposes geographical mobility, especially in rural areas. The consequences of the selective out-migration of socially mobile young people ("brain…

This study is designed to include four waves of data collection, conducted approximately every other year, beginning in 2004 and continuing through 2011. This report briefly describes the procedures used for the third wave of data collection, completed in 2008-2009, and the results from a sample of Pennsylvania's rural 11th grade youth and youth…

Bootstraps is a 12-week program designed for rural youth, ages 18-21, who are not working and not in school. The program goal is for participants to develop skills and motivation to find meaningful work, which is accomplished through a combination of classroom learning and practical fieldwork. The environmental fieldwork on public lands, funded by…

Objective:This report extends earlier accounts by addressing the effects of the Strong African American Families (SAAF) program across 65 months. Two hypotheses were tested: (a) Rural African American youths randomly assigned to participate in SAAF would demonstrate lower rates of alcohol use than would control youths more than 5 years later, and…

Younger (13 years) and older (17 years) adolescents (N = 160) from urban and rural China responded to written scenarios in which children's rights to self-determination and nurturance conflicted with the desires of authorities. They also evaluated scenarios in which children's desire to exercise self-determination was in conflict with their own…

The purpose of this study was to examine relations between shyness-sensitivity and social competence, school performance, and psychological well-being in Chinese children with rural and urban backgrounds. Participants were students in rural migrant children schools and city schools in China (Ns = 411 and 518, respectively; M age = 10 years). Data…

Purpose: Chances for a healthy life are not equally distributed across society. Instead, genetic, social, and environmental factors help determine the probability that a child will be healthy and active. We investigate the probability that youth will be physically active by examining 3 consistent correlates of physical activity. The individual and…

Early adolescence can be a difficult experience for many youth. This complex phase of development occurs as children transition to middle school. Within middle school, adolescents are faced with new challenges including ever changing peer groups and different educational and behavioral expectations. These challenges have been recognized as having…

One dimension of mathematics learning is developing an identity as a mathematics learner. The social learning theories of Gee (2001) and Wenger (1998) serve as a basis for the discussion of four "faces" of identity: engagement, imagination, alignment, and nature. A study conducted with 54 rural high school students, with half enrolled in a…

In 2004, the Center for Rural Pennsylvania contracted with Pennsylvania State University to begin a longitudinal study of rural Pennsylvania school students to understand their educational and career aspirations and the factors influencing their aspirations, whether their plans change as they age and if they attain their goals. In its entirety,…

Objective: A Spanish language version of an exercise about adolescent horseback riders' exposure to traumatic brain injuries was integrated into the Spanish curriculum in a rural Kentucky high school. Design: An exploratory case study design with two groups of students. Setting and Method: Thirty-eight students, enrolled in intermediate Spanish IV…

In China, the access to education is determined by not only student's demand for schooling, but also the allocation of educational resources and the schools' selection of candidate students. Based on the data obtained from the rural life level and rural social assistance household surveys in four provinces in 2005, the demand-identified bivariate…