While many adolescents and young adults experiment with substances (e.g., alcohol, cigarette smoking, marijuana), recent research suggests that rural youth and young adults may be more at risk for substance use than their urban counterparts. This study was designed to examine the longitudinal relationships between rural adolescents' prosocial…

Objectives: To characterize working hours of adult farm owner-operators and their spouses by season, and to examine associations between working hours and farm safety practices affecting children. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data collected as part of an existing study of injury and its determinants.…

Context: Few studies have examined the prevalence of overweight status and physical inactivity among children and adolescents living in rural America. Purpose: We examined urban and rural differences in the prevalence of overweight status and physical inactivity among US children. Methods: Data were drawn from the 2003 National Survey of…

Among 3,907 seventh-twelfth grade students in rural Illinois, ages at first use for alcohol, tobacco, and drugs were lower than national averages. Specific drug and alcohol education programs should be implemented before age of first use for 10 percent of students. Contains 20 references and 3 data tables. (SV)

Inconsistencies in adolescents' self-reports of sexual behavior were studied for 758 rural adolescents (eighth-grade students in rural Maryland) who completed surveys over 3 years. Consistency rates fluctuate depending on the measure of sexual behavior, the racial/gender subgroup, age, and prior sexual experience, but the majority present…

Panel studies examined changes in the educational and occupational aspirations of 191 rural Ohio youth. The 1988 survey questions were similar to those asked in a study conducted 3 years earlier when subjects were 10th and 12th graders. Major findings were: (1) the influence of school personnel on student career and curriculum choices was less…

This paper reports the results of a survey of 1349 secondary school students in a rural county in North Carolina. Data are presented on psychological and social problems, self-concept, locus of control orientation, utilization of professional and nonprofessional counseling resources, and the family relationships of the respondents. (Author)

Social capital may be particularly important for the well-being and future opportunities of African American adolescents living in low income families. In this study, linkages between interpersonal identity formation and adolescents' perceptions of social capital quality were examined in a cross-sectional study of 374 low income, rural, African…

This paper examines rural high school students' educational and occupational expectations and their relationships to personal, educational, school, and family characteristics. Questionnaires were distributed to all 10th and 12th graders in four small rural high schools in diverse geographic regions of Ohio. Almost all of the 491 respondents were…

Career and career related preference expressed by a number of rural Southern high school youth were found to moderately predict their early adult behaviors. Preferences for post high school education were the dominant influence and single best predictor of subsequent educational attainment. Moderate linkages were also found to exist between…