Responses of 218 urban husbands and wives and 202 rural husbands and wives were used to test the hypotheses that these two populations would use different coping strategies to deal with the stressors they faced in their different environments and that women would use different strategies than men. Neither hypothesis was supported. (Author/BL)

Examined rural families' selection and use of child care. Found that midwestern rural families (n=199) with young children used fewer caregivers for longer time and for more hours than 763 urban families. More rural families than urban families used relatives as caregivers, especially for young children. Parental use of child care influenced…

Examined time allotments to household, paid, and unpaid work for farm, rural nonfarm, and urban women. Findings from 2,100 two-parent, two-child families revealed no significant differences among groups in allocation of time to household work. Of three groups, farm women spent more time in unpaid work, and rural nonfarm women devoted most time to…

Used data from 1984 Supplement on Aging to National Health Interview Survey to examine residential differences in helping network composition of 3,761 impaired elders. Severely impaired elders in nonmetropolitan communities were less apt than metropolitan counterparts to receive aid from formal providers and were significantly more likely to…

Compared rural husbands and wives with urban husbands and wives over range of variables considered fundamental to marriage and family to explore differences by county of residence and by sex. Found that rural spouses were less well educated and more gender role traditional than were urban spouses. (Author/NB)

Compared characteristics of impaired elderly care receivers, primary caregivers, informal networks, and formal networks likely to affect caregiver stress and burden by area of residence. Data from 1,388 noninstitutionalized functionally limited elderly people and their primary caregivers revealed significant residential differences in…

Compared rural and urban older adults on exchanges of assistance and social activities with children and friends. Found that illness prompted more giving and receiving of assistance for rural in comparison to urban informal supports. Rural widows were more actively involved in exchanges of assistance with friend networks than were urban widows.…

Interviewed 1,496 urban and 553 rural older adults to examine how older unmarried persons spent time in formal, informal, and leisure activities. Found that urban women manifested most diverse social relationships and activities and rural men manifested the least. Data suggest that educational and intervention efforts should not ignore place of…

Examined organizational, interpersonal, and personal factors to predict role conflict in 105 rural and 126 urban young parents. Found self-esteem predicted role conflict in both urban and rural subjects; family cohesion predicted role conflict in urban but not in rural subjects. (Author/NB)

Examined quality of relationships between rural (N=111) and urban (N=112) older parents and their children. For rural parents, proximity to child was most important contributor to high quality relationship, followed by internal locus of control and low filial expectations. Internal locus of control was most important factor of high quality…

Studied 70 rural and urban midlife couples to explore fathers' and mothers' responses to an adolescent leaving home. Found few rural-urban differences, but sex differences appeared salient. Most respondents had little difficulty with the transition. When dysfunction was experienced, boundary ambiguity proved a strong predictor of somatitization…

Assessed the effectiveness of trained volunteers in leading parent education programs. Compared volunteer and professionally led groups in an ongoing extension-sponsored parenting program. Urban/rural comparisons were also made. There were no significant differences between volunteer and professionally led groups on child gains or parent…

Examined demographic correlates of familial and nonfamilial sources of emergency assistance among Blacks. Data from Panel Study of Income Dynamics-1980 showed both familial and nonfamilial sources of emergency assistance. Revealed age, gender, marital status, and urban-rural differences in sources of assistance. Results highlight importance of…

Study sought to describe the very old living in rural areas and make predictions of survival rates of rural elders to very old age. Among the findings, very old rural adults were found most likely to live with others. Demographic and early life achievement influenced survival to very old age. (RJM)