Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Youth Identity And Postsecondary Decision Making In A Rural State: Evidence Of A College For All Master Narrative, Jayson Seaman, Cindy L. Hartman, Andrew D. Coppens, Erin H. Sharp, Sarah Jusseaume, Molly Donovan

Faculty Publications

This study examined the normative messages that inform youth postsecondary decision making in a predominantly rural state in the northeastern U.S., focusing on the institutionalization and circulation of identity master narratives. Using a multilevel, ecological approach to sampling, the study interviewed 33 key informants in positions of influence in educational, workforce, and quality of life domains. Narrative analysis yielded evidence of a predominant master narrative – College for All – that participants described as a prescriptive expectation that youth and families orient their postsecondary planning toward four-year, residential baccalaureate degree programs. Both general and domain-specific aspects of this master narrative …

Proposed Eitc Expansion Would Increase Eligibility And Dollars For Rural And Urban “Childless” Workers, Jessica A. Carson, Marybeth J. Mattingly

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief uses data from the 2013 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey to examine how President Obama’s proposed expanded eligibility and higher credit values might affect tax filers in both rural and urban America. Authors Jessica Carson and Marybeth Mattingly report that proposed changes to the earned income tax credit (EITC) will increase the share of workers without a qualifying child eligible for the EITC equally in rural and urban places, although rural residents are more likely to be eligible under both current and proposed policies. The average increase in the credit is $476, more …

The Increasing Diversity Of America's Youth, Kenneth M. Johnson, Andrew P. Schaefer, Daniel T. Lichter, Luke T. Rogers

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief documents how unfolding demographic forces have placed today’s children and youth at the forefront of America’s new racial and ethnic diversity. Authors Kenneth M. Johnson, Andrew Schaefer, Daniel T. Lichter, and Luke T. Rogers discuss how the rapidly changing racial and ethnic composition of the youth population has important implications for intergroup relations, ethnic identities, and electoral politics. They report that diversity is increasing among America’s youth because there are more minority children and fewer non-Hispanic white children. Minority births exceeded non-Hispanic white births for the first time in U.S. history in 2011 according to Census Bureau estimates. …

Mental Health Among Northern New Hampshire Young Adults: Depression And Substance Problems Higher Than Nationwide, Karen T. Van Gundy

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief uses data on depressive and substance abuse symptoms from two surveys administered in 2011—the Coös Youth Study and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health—to compare mental health patterns among young adults in Coös County, New Hampshire, to patterns among rural young adults nationwide. The analyses focus on 214 Coös young adults and 1,477 young adult respondents, ages 18 to 21, who were living in non-metropolitan areas in 2011 and who provided usable data on depressive and substance abuse symptoms. Author Karen Van Gundy reports that Coös County young adults are more likely than rural young adults …

Coös Youth With Mentors More Likely To Perceive Future Success, Kent Scovill, Corinna J. Tucker

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This fact sheet explores whether Coös youths’ mentor experiences and their academic attitudes and well-being are linked. Authors Kent Scovill and Corinna Jenkins Tucker analyze data from the Coös Youth Study collected in 2008, focusing on seventh and eleventh grade students from all public schools in Coös County, New Hampshire.

Of the Coös youth surveyed, 82 percent with a mentor relationship reported believing that they were likely to graduate college, compared to 72 percent of those without a mentor, and 63 percent of Coös youth with a mentor agreed that they could do anything they set their minds to, while …

Comparing Teen Substance Use In Northern New Hampshire To Rural Use Nationwide, Karen T. Van Gundy

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Using data administered in 2011 from the Carsey Institute’s Coös Youth Study and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, this brief compares teen substance use patterns in New Hampshire’s most rural county to patterns among rural youth nationwide. Author Karen Van Gundy reports that about half of the teens in Coös County and in rural areas nationwide reported using any substance in the previous year. Alcohol use was reported most often, followed by tobacco or marijuana, and other illicit substances. Rural boys nationwide reported using tobacco at significantly higher rates than Coös boys and girls and rural girls …

Middle-Skill Jobs Remain More Common Among Rural Workers, Justin R. Young

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This issue brief uses data from the Current Population Survey collected from 2003 to 2012 to assess trends in employment in middle-skill jobs and the Great Recession’s impact on middle-skill workers, with particular attention paid to differences between those in rural and urban places. Author Justin Young reports that roughly half (51 percent) of American workers living in rural areas held middle-skill jobs in 2012—positions requiring at least some on-the-job training, an apprenticeship-type experience, or postsecondary education but no more than a two-year degree. This figure is well above the national average of 43 percent and the urban average of …

Sixty Percent Of Coös Youth Report Having A Mentor In Their Lives, Kent Scovill, Corinna J. Tucker

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

In this brief, authors Kent Scovill and Corinna Jenkins Tucker describe Coös youths’ mentor relationships using data from the Carsey Institute’s Coös Youth Study collected in 2007. They report that, in 2007, a majority of Coös youth in seventh and eleventh grade (60.2 percent) report having a mentor. In addition, 68 percent of Coös youths’ mentors are extended family members, and females are more likely than males to report a mentor relationship. Considering how mentoring relationships can play a crucial role in adolescents’ lives, they conclude that efforts to strengthen the capacity for arranged and naturally occurring mentor relationships in …

Assessing The Impacts Of Federal Farm Bill Programs On Rural Communities, Jessica D. Ulrich-Schad, Curt D. Grimm, Douglas Jackson-Smith

Sociology

This report summarizes the state of scientific knowledge on the impact of federal farm and food programs on rural communities in the United States. We focus on the impacts of five specific programs of what is commonly referred to as the “farm bill.” These five include farm commodity programs; farm risk management, insurance, and disaster programs; agricultural conservation programs; food and nutrition programs; and rural development programs. Although there is extensive research on the relative merits and effectiveness of specific rural development programs and policies on rural community outcomes, the impacts of the other four main farm bill programs on …

Rural Natives’ Perceptions Of Strengths And Challenges In Their Communities, Jessica D. Ulrich-Schad

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief uses two sources of data to explore how Native Americans view the current socioeconomic and environmental state of their communities and their future within them—the Community and Environment in Rural America (CERA) surveys and focus groups with Native leaders in one rural state. The data help to illustrate how the Native experience is both similar to, and unique from, that of other rural Americans. While the findings reported by author Jessica Ulrich-Schad illustrate that there are significant challenges facing Native people, they also show that strengths and opportunities continue to exist in Indian Country and that Natives remain …

Demographic Trends In Nonmetropolitan America: Implications For Land Use Development And Conservation., Kenneth M. Johnson

Sociology

This research contributes new information delineating the rapidity and geographic scale at which demographic change is occurring in non-metropolitan America. Rural areas are being buffeted by economic, social, and governmental transformations from far beyond their borders. These structural transformations are reflected in the demographic trends playing out across the vast rural landscape in the first decade of the twenty-first century. The patterns of demographic change in rural America are complex and subtle, but their impact is not. Population change has significant implications for the people, places, and institutions of rural America; for the natural environment that is a fundamental part …

Coös County Youth And Out-Of-School Activities - Patterns Of Involvement And Barriers To Participation, Erin H. Sharp

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This fact sheet draws from surveys administered to a cohort of 416 participants in 7th grade in 2008, again when they were in 8th grade in 2009, and most recently as 10th graders in 2011 to look at patterns of participation in structured activities over time and whether male and female students differ in these patterns of participa¬tion. It also draws from questions added to the 2011 survey of 10th graders to examine Coös County youths’ perceptions about what kinds of barriers have kept them from getting more involved in structured out-of-school activities.

Author Erin Hiley Sharp reports that female …

Underemployment In Urban And Rural America, 2005-2012, Justin R. Young

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Author Justin Young reports that underemployment (or involuntary part-time work) rates doubled during the second year of the recession, reaching roughly 6.5 percent in 2009. This increase was equally steep in both rural and urban places. By March of 2012, underemployment was slightly lower in rural places (4.8 percent) compared to urban places (5.3 percent). Prior to the recession, however, underemployment was slightly higher in rural America. Workers under age 30, as well as women, black, and Hispanic workers, continue to experience higher levels of underemployment. Underemployment is strongly linked with education, with the least educated workers experiencing higher rates …

It Takes A Community: Civic Life And Community Involvement Among Coös County Youth, Justin R. Young

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief explores the extent to which Coös County youth are involved in a variety of civic-related activities, with particular attention to the demographic and attitudinal factors associated with such participation. Author Justin Young reports that approximately 75 percent of Coös County youth report involvement in at least one type of civic-related activity. The types of activities varied by year in school. Eighth grad¬ers were more involved in 4-H, Scouts, church groups, and community center events, while twelfth graders volunteered more often and participated in community-service clubs. Forty percent of youth volunteered within the past year, and a third are …

Youths' Opinions About Their Opportunities For Success In Coös County Communities, Erin H. Sharp

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This fact sheet examines Coös County youths’ beliefs about their access to educational and occupational opportunities in their home communities and whether these beliefs relate to their expectations for the future. To do so, author Erin Hiley Sharp draws on the Coös Youth Study data collected in 2011 from 318 eleventh graders in the public schools. Overall, Coös County youths’ opinions about the educational and occupational opportunities available in their home communities are somewhat positive but youths do perceive areas of concern. Youths’ perceptions of opportunities are fairly similar across the three regions of Coös County; however, those youths living …

Over Sixteen Million Children In Poverty In 2011, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Jessica A. Bean, Andrew P. Schaefer

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

In this brief, authors Marybeth Mattingly, Jessica Bean, and Andrew Schaefer use American Community Survey data released on September 20, 2012 to address patterns of child poverty. To evaluate the changes in child poverty, they focused on two time periods -- change since 2007, as the nation entered the recession, and change since 2010. According to the American Community Survey, the overall child poverty rate for the United States rose slightly from 21.6 in 2010 to 22.5 percent in 2011, resulting in an estimated 16.4 million children living in poverty. Of these children, 6.1 million are young (under age 6). …

Coös County’S Class Of 2009: Where Are They Now?, Eleanor M. Jaffee

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief reports on the first follow-up survey of the Coös Youth Study participants beyond high school. The focus of the Coös Youth Study, a ten-year panel study following the lives of youth in Coös County, New Hampshire, is the transition of Coös youth into adulthood. Author Eleanor Jaffee reports that approximately half of the Coös County Class of 2009’s follow-up survey participants (49 percent) are living in Coös County the majority of the time. Of those living outside Coös County, 81 percent are attending school full time. The most frequently reported combinations of school and work situations were in …

Forging The Future: Community Leadership And Economic Change In Coös County, New Hampshire, Michele Dillon

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Author Michele Dillon conducted a case study of community change in Coös County, New Hampshire, for two-and-a-half years (June 2009-December 2011) to investigate how local community leaders in Coös assess the initiatives, challenges, opportunities, and progress in the North Country during this time of economic transition. Her primary data-gathering method included personal interviews with community leaders, supplemented by observation, documentary, and survey data. Dillon discusses how there is a strong consensus among community leaders that Coös needs to work together as a county with a unified vision and voice while respecting the specific character, strengths, and needs of each local …

Beginning Teachers Are More Common In Rural, High-Poverty, And Racially Diverse Schools, Douglas J. Gagnon, Marybeth J. Mattingly

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief considers whether the concentration of beginning teachers in a district is associated with the district's poverty rate, racial composition, or urbanicity. Authors Douglas Gagnon and Marybeth Mattingly report that poor communities have moderately higher percentages of beginning teachers than communities with lower poverty rates and that a higher concentration of minority students in a district is associated with a higher percentage of beginning teachers. Large cities, remote towns, and rural districts have higher percentages of beginning teachers than midsized-small cities, suburbs, and fringe-distant town districts. The combined impact of poverty, race, and urbanicity has a substantial effect on …

Understanding Child Abuse In Rural And Urban America: Risk Factors And Maltreatment Substantiation, Wendy A. Walsh, Marybeth J. Mattingly

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Using a large national sample of child maltreatment reports, this brief compares the outcomes of child maltreatment cases in rural versus urban places and identifies the characteristics associated with substantiation. Child abuse cases substantiated in rural and urban areas share many caregiver risk factors, such as drug and alcohol abuse, and many family stressors. Substantiation is equally likely across income levels; approximately one-fourth of cases in each income level are substantiated. However, when place is taken into account, a greater share (36 percent) of higher-income families (that is, families with incomes greater than 200 percent of the federal poverty level) …

Coos County Teens’ Family Relationships, Corinna J. Tucker, Desiree Wiesen-Martin

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This fact sheet examines Coos County, New Hampshire teens’ perceptions of their family relationship experiences using data from the Coos Youth Study collected in 2011 from 418 eleventh graders in all Coos County public schools. Authors Corinna Jenkins Tucker and Desiree Wiesen-Martin report that Coos older adolescents feel close to their parents and siblings but also argue with them. A small group of youths report perpetrating violence on a family member.

Mapping Food Insecurity And Food Sources In New Hampshire Cities And Towns, Barbara Wauchope, Sally Ward

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Using a series of detailed New Hampshire maps, this brief presents a geographic picture of the towns and cities at risk for food insecurity as well as the food resources available across the state. By detailing places with high food insecurity risk and comparing them to places where food is available, these maps show areas of unmet need. This information will enable organizations partnering with New Hampshire Hunger Solutions to identify where initiatives addressing food insecurity and hunger could have the greatest potential impact.

Forest Views: Northeast Oregon Survey Looks At Community And Environment, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Joel N. Hartter, Forrest Stevens, Russell G. Congalton, Mark J. Ducey, Michael Campbell, Daniel Maynard, Michael Staunton

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief reports on a survey conducted in fall 2011 as one component of the ongoing Communities and Forests in Oregon (CAFOR) project. The CAFOR project focuses on the people and landscapes of three counties in northeast Oregon (Baker, Union, and Wallowa), where landscapes and communities are changing in interconnected ways.

Demographic Change In The Northern Forest, Kenneth M. Johnson, Susan I. Stewart, Miranda H. Mockrin

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief examines the population redistribution in the Northern Forest, which includes thirty-four counties scattered across northern and central Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. Authors Ken Johnson, Susan Stewart, and Miranda Mockrin report that the population of the Northern Forest grew modestly between 2000 and 2010, and the population gains were greatest in recreational areas and least in manufacturing areas. Racial and ethnic diversity is also growing in the Northern Forest, and the population is getting older due to aging in place among current residents and net outmigration among younger populations.

The Local Agricultural Community Exchange: Outcomes And Lessons Learned From A Public-Private Initiative To Revitalize A Downtown Community, Michele Cranwell Schmidt

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief describes a revitalization project in Barre, Vermont, led by a public-private partnership involving the Agricultural Community Exchange, the Central Vermont Community Action Council, and the private businesses that operated out of the storefront. The Nancy Nye Fellowship, through the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, supported the evaluation of the project from 2007 to 2010. After four years of operation, the market, café, and Gallery closed due to economic hardship. Author Michele Schmidt, the 2008 recipient of the Nancy Nye Fellowship, examines the impact the initiative had on community revitalization and economic development, and she cites …

Rural Demographic Change In The New Century: Slower Growth, Increased Diversity, Kenneth M. Johnson

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief examines rural demographic trends in the first decade of the twenty-first century using newly available data from the 2010 Census. The rural population grew by just 2.2 million between 2000 and 2010—a gain barely half as great as that during the 1990s. Population growth was particularly slow in farming and mining counties and sharply reduced in rural manufacturing counties. Rural population gains were largest in high-amenity counties and just beyond the metropolitan fringe. Diversity accelerated in rural America, with racial and ethnic minorities accounting for 83 percent of rural population growth between 2000 and 2010.

Teen Stress And Substance Use Problems In Coös: Survey Shows Strong Community Attachment Can Offset Risk, Karen T. Van Gundy, Meghan L. Mills

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief explores how social stress and community attachment are related to problem alcohol and drug use for girls and boys in Coös County, New Hampshire. The brief uses survey data from the Coös Youth Study, which includes self-reported information from 564 Coös youth who were in seventh and eleventh grades in 2008, and who were surveyed again one year later (in 2009) when they were in eighth and twelfth grades. Nearly one-fourth of youth in Coös County (22 percent of boys and 23 percent of girls) reported at least one alcohol or drug use related problem. The authors note …

Coos Teens’ View Of Family Economic Stress Is Tied To Quality Of Relationships At Home, Corinna J. Tucker, Genevieve R. Cox

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Family economic hardship during adolescence affects family relationships and the social, emotional, and behavioral development of a substantial number of American youth. The authors of this brief use data from the Coos County Youth Study, conducted by the Carsey Institute, to explore adolescents’ perceptions of family economic pressure in 2008 and determine whether these views are linked to their family relationship experiences one year later. They report that one-third of adolescents in Coos County, New Hampshire, perceive that their family is experiencing significant economic pressure and that significant economic pressure is linked to negative parent-child and sibling relationships one year …

Stretching Ties: Social Capital In The Rebranding Of Coos County, New Hampshire, Michele Dillon

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Place rebranding is gaining in popularity as cities and rural communities alike attempt to expand their revenue streams through innovative marketing strategies that seek to revitalize or create tourism destinations. These efforts tend to come about as part of an economic development strategy pursued by communities that have borne steep economic losses resulting from global economic restructuring and the decline in traditional manufacturing, agriculture, and natural-resource extraction. Author Michele Dillon explores the role of social capital in rural wealth generation by focusing on how it was used to advance place rebranding in Coos County in northern New Hampshire.

Poor Women With Sexually Transmitted Infections: Providers’ Perspectives On Diagnoses, Genevieve R. Cox

Sociology

This article presents results from a study of health care providers, mainly nurses and nurse practitioners, who routinely diagnose sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in rural low-income populations in West Virginia (WV). A qualitative analysis of eighteen semi-structured interviews reveals that providers who consistently work with low-income populations believe patients undergo a negative change in self-image in response to a chronic STD diagnosis. Providers express concerns about a number of issues related to low-income, rural women’s access to sexual health care and see the need for more sexuality education, more funding for free and reduced cost clinics, and more available health …