Rural adolescents approach the transition out of high school with individual concerns about making an emotionally or financially expensive "mistake," family concerns about young people leaving home, and national and local concerns about declining rural economies and out-migration. The literature concerning this topic considers factors…

Effects of early marriage and marriage deferment on educational attainment and occupational achievement of black and white youth were investigated in a longitudinal study of 1,052 rural youth from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. Data were obtained from the larger Southern Youth Study, 1966-72. Within the…

The 66 annotations given in this bibliography are from status projection literature resulting from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Regional Research Project S-61 "Development of Human Resource Potentials and Mobility in the Rural South" completed by the summer of 1971. Most of the studies reported conform to the following…

A sample of 176 Tennessee children and their mothers were studied in 1969 when the children were fifth or sixth graders and again in 1975 when they were eleventh or twelfth graders to determine changes in occupational and educational aspirations and expectations along with possible causes for such changes. Comparison of occupational aspirations…

The causal linkage between socioeconomic status, occupational and educational aspiration, and attainment was examined in this attempt to test an existing theoretical model which used socioeconomic status as a major input variable, with significant other influence as a crucial intervening variable between socioeconomic status and aspiration. The…

The study's objectives were to: (1) compare differences in social-psychological behavior between 1948 high school graduates in central Iowa who migrated and those who remained in their home areas; (2) examine social behavior which may have resulted from the migration experience; (3) examine migration behavior in relation to occupational mobility…

The changes in residence projections (statements of behavior, attitudes, or beliefs about future residence status) of rural East Texas high school sophomores between 1966 and 1972 were examined. Focus was on general trends over the time span as well as those specific to race, sex, and respondent's residence. The analysis involved an…

The study assessed the stability or change in the residential orientations of rural Mexican American youth living near the Texas-Mexico border, examined changes in the local social and economic environment, and made some predictions as to their effects on the students' dispositions. In the springs of 1967 and 1973, questionnaires were administered…

This study reports on levels of achievement among rural black and white Southerners of relatively low socioeconomic status. The 262 persons who were the objects of the study were reared in Millfield, North Carolina. They were first studied by Baughman and Dahlstrom (1968) in the early 1960s when they were in the eighth grade. Ten years later, this…

A process model which included the influences of social origin, encouragement, and the formation of adolescent period attitudes as antecedents of early marital and fertility behavior was constructed and evaluated using three-wave panel data obtained from 176 nonmetropolitan females from selected Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and South Carolina high…

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 future aspirations, the factors influencing these aspirations, whether their plans change as they age, and if they attain their goals and plans. The main research questions…

Career and career-related preferences rural youth made and estimation of degree to which choices were translated into adult behavior were investigated by tracing a rural sample of southern 1968 high school graduates through the first four years of post-high school. Focus was on choices expressed and attainments experienced with respect to…

About 62.8 million of the total U.S. population live in the South; of these, about 10% live in the "rural" South. Young people (under 25 years of age) constitute almost half of the total population in the South--29.4 million. Over one-third of all southern people are under 18 years of age. The racial composition of the youth population…

A longitudinal study conducted in six southern states dealt with four population categories (poor youth, rural youth, black youth, and females) frequently neglected in status aspiration, career goal, and life plans research. The term "life plans" included educational and occupational aspirations as well as expectations of age at…

This report focuses on the education and work experiences of rural youth during the emerging adult years (age 20 to 24), as they make the transition from adolescence to adulthood. It documents how rural emerging adults combine work and school and experience idleness, closely examines their educational attainment, and compares their experiences…