Rural girls, answering questions concerning educational and occupational aspirations, showed significantly higher educational aspiration, the same or higher occupational aspiration, and equal ranges of job choice, relative to boys. The results are discussed with respect to previous findings, and to status attainment models. (Author)

Teachers must be sensitive to the needs of modern farm children to see themselves and their families reflected favorably and accurately in reading materials. (HOD)

Details the needs identified by parents, youth, and others concerning the role played by rural parents in the career development of young people. Presents findings from a series of focus group interviews. The identified needs reflect potential activities which parents, schools, and others might use to help rural youth. (RJM)

Urban (n=51) and rural (n=43) high school seniors completed measures of career maturity and career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE). Career development attitude was the most significant predictor of CDMSE. Rural seniors scored significantly higher on career development knowledge. (SK)

Evaluates the impact of 4 career development curricular strategies and emotional/instrumental support in preparing rural adolescents to make successful post-high school transitions. Curriculum strategies and perceived support helped 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students attain critical aspects of career development, enhanced student satisfaction,…

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)

Describes life during the Depression era by studying narrative and visual portrayals of African American children in both rural and urban settings. Sources include Richard Wright's "12 Million Black Voices" and Stella Gentry Sharpe's "Tobe" as well as work that critically analyzes these narrative and visual documentations of…

Discusses the importance of recognizing and understanding the consequences of stress, distress, and burnout among rural middle school students. Provides guidelines for diminishing the effects of distress and burnout among students and for conducting teacher inservice programs on distress and ways to manage personal and professional stress. (LP)

Study investigated the effectiveness of Parenting Adolescents Wisely, a brief interactive laserdisc parent training program. Compared to the control group, mothers who used the program reported increased knowledge of adaptive parenting practices at a one-month follow-up as well as significantly lower frequencies of child problem behaviors at one…

Investigates the WISC-II and WRAT3 test scores of 37 children in a rural Arkansas school district who were referred for evaluation because of academic difficulties. Results indicate that the WRAT3 correlations with the WISC-II ranged from between 0.42 and 0.66. These findings are consistent with others on the general correlations between IQ and…

Studied the stability of scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition (WISC-III) over a 3-year period for 54 rural school students with learning disabilities. Mean full scale IQ scores did not change significantly between the measurement periods, but 20% of students showed significant change, and 33% of the sample showed…

Examines media coverage of youth outmigration from Tasmania in the context of Australia's regional crisis. Focuses on how young people are constructed by others and positioned in others' visions of their rural home towns. Discusses two recurring narratives: strategies to keep youth at home, and preoccupation with the "best and brightest"…

Explores the value orientations of the rural school students of Uzbekistan by asking the students a variety of indirect questions, such as what their favorite motto in life is. Finds that these students were concerned mostly with social, moral, and spiritual values. (CMK)

Studied the mechanisms by which social competence may be associated with substance use during early adolescence in a sample of 1,568 rural junior high school students. Structural equation modeling indicated that social competence had a direct protective association with substance use. Discusses mediating factors. (SLD)

Although scientists and policy makers have established the importance of physical activity for health and well being across the life span (e.g., Baranowski et al. 2000, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2000), youth are not meeting public health physical activity standards (USDHHS, 1997, 2000). And, while physical inactivity…