This chapter focuses on two remote rural communities that engaged young people in meaningful community development efforts to build social capital. One community connected youth to the assets of the community and created opportunities for young adults to strengthen social networks. The other created partnerships and networks to build…

Questionnaires to determine political influence aspirations were distributed to 292 members of a rural Wisconsin high school junior class. Results indicated that a large proportion of these youth neither wished to nor believed that they could be politically influential at age 25 or even at age 45. (DS)

Audiometric threshold testing of 872 vocational agriculture students carried out over a three-year period indicates an increased prevalence of hearing loss among students actively involved in farm work. Use of hearing protection may reduce the risk of hearing loss, although few students report using such devices. (Author/BJV)

Examines the levels of occupational awareness of rural elementary school students and the influence local environment has on this awareness. Data from Muscoda, Wisconsin indicate that, as students increase in age and intelligence, they have more accurate knowledge of occupations. Local environment does influence youths' occupational aspirations.…

The Bluewing Tutorial Project (Towah, Wisconsin) is described. Specific and general instances of paternalism and condescension toward Winnebago Indian children were examined for their destructive effects upon the children's self concept and development. (KM)

A need existed for instruments to measure status isomorphs for either income or political influence in the process of status attainment. To provide a base on which to build further work, instruments were developed in this project by which to measure youth's aspirations for and their significant others' expectations for the youth's future levels of…

In l976 Dane County, Wisconsin was the site of a survey to determine the knowledge of rural youth and adults as to how their government functioned. The area was chosen because its residents were thought to be more politically active than individuals in other parts of the state. Personal or telephone interviews were conducted with 112 adults and…

Conducted in 1965 by the Wisconsin Department of Public Welfare, this study sought to (1) bring about a better understanding of the school dropout, (2) determine major dropout causes, and (3) identify difficulties and achievements of dropouts in the Lakeland Union High School, Wisconsin. Utilizing a control group of 100 students selected on the…

Procedures for early identification of delinquency-prone youth in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, are described in this report of a 1961-1972 study designed to delineate the problems of aggressive and disruptive classroom behavior as related to delinquency. Data collection began in 1961, when each 3rd-, 6th-, and 9th-grade teacher in Eau Claire…

A study was conducted to identify the significant factors of student attrition in Wisconsin's postsecondary vocational, technical, and adult education system to determine predictability, and to indicate areas for improvement of retention measures. Survey instruments were developed to gather data from 121 non-completers and instructors. A third…

Examined the effects of a multicomponent, four-year hearing-conservation program for farm youth. Researchers conducted pre- and postintervention hearing tests in control and intervention students. Surveys examined family hearing loss, farm work, noise exposure, and hearing-protection device (HPD) utilization. Significantly more intervention…

Phase 1 of this research project included summarizing available information concerning lower socioeconomic status (SES) rural youth. Phase 2 involved defining a research population, selecting a sample from that population, collecting and analyzing data, and comparing data to the summarized material available on lower SES youth. The population for…

Reviews the history of county fairs and their role in providing agricultural education, transmitting traditional values and skills, and encouraging intergenerational learning. Summarizes experiences of rural youth who have, as a result of participating in the Bauer County Fair (Wisconsin), increased their understanding of and commitment to rural…

The purpose of the project evaluated in this third-party report was for the North Central Technical Institute in Wausau, Wisconsin, to provide career education to the adult population (including youth 16 years of age and over) in school and out of school, in the area served by the North Central Vocational, Technical and Adult Education District.…

The relationships among drug use, health beliefs, peer use, sex, and religion were examined using data collected from 265 seventh graders in rural northern Michigan and northeastern Wisconsin in January and February of 1984. Positive relationships were found between drug use and peer use and health beliefs. (TJH)