Suchergebnisse

AbstractModernity can be characterised by a shift from a communal to an individual orientation where social mobility is one of individuals' primary goals. However, for individuals to achieve social mobility, they often must also be geographically mobile. Consequently, geographic immobility or staying in place needs to be theorised and examined directly. In this context, the life course perspective provides a useful framework to understand staying. The role transitions associated with different life stages represent different decision points where choices to stay must be deliberate. We use state‐representative data from Montana (USA) in 2010 to perform an exploratory analysis of stayers. Using a variety of community and individual predictors, we find that high community attachment, low satisfaction with one's community, and/or local services make being a stayer more likely. In separate models of being a stayer by rurality, age group, educational attainment, and having a dependent in the home, the pattern of results suggests that interpretations of high attachment and low satisfaction among stayers as being indicators of being "stuck" may be incorrect. Instead, even in the absence of being satisfied with one's community, community attachment may be indicative of deliberate decisions to stay. We discuss the limitations of addressing staying using cross‐sectional data and suggest future avenues for better understanding those who stay in place throughout their lives.

Many studies have addressed whether delinquent behavior is associated with various aspects of schooling and academics. However, this research has been limited to examining unidirectional effects. Building on Thornberry's interactional theory, we develop a conceptual model that posits reciprocal associations among delinquent behavior, school attachment, and academic achievement. The model is tested with two waves from the Add Health data set (n = 9,381) that include measures of transcript grade point average (GPA). The results of a set of structural equation models provide evidence that academic achievement is associated with less delinquent behavior over time, as well as with higher school attachment. However, the effects of delinquency are limited to an attenuating effect on subsequent school attachment; delinquency does not directly influence academic achievement. Thus, we find only partial support for interactional theory.

AbstractAs rural communities undergo substantial demographic and economic changes, understanding the migration intentions and their antecedents of rural elderly persons becomes increasingly important. Using data drawn from a survey of adults from 24 rural Utah communities conducted in 2008, we examine whether rural residents 60 years of age or older plan to remain in their present communities (N= 621). We use structural equation models (SEM) to estimate the relationships between a variety of individual and community‐level background measures, including perceptions of local service quality, leaving one's community for health care, Internet use, attachment to and satisfaction with community, and plans to age in place. Results suggest that even as the rural context of economic decline, population loss, and distance to medical services may reduce the viability of staying in a community, a desire to remain in the community is primarily a function of perceptions of the quality of local services and community satisfaction. This research highlights the need to better understand the interplay between the availability of medical services and perceptions of distance as well as to understand the complex relationship between individual and community level characteristics for migration intentions.

Few studies have examined the impact of mentoring (developing a special relationship with a nonparental adult) on educational achievement and attainment in the general population. In addition, prior research has yet to clarify the extent to which mentoring relationships reduce inequality by enabling disadvantaged youths to compensate for the lack of social resources or to promote inequality by serving as a complementary resource for advantaged youths. The results of a nationally representative sample of youths show (1) a powerful net influence of mentors on the educational success of youths and (2) how social background and parental, peer, and personal resources condition the formation and effectiveness of mentoring relationships. The findings uncover an interesting paradox—that informal mentors may simultaneously represent compensatory and complementary resources. Youths with many resources are more likely than are other young people to have mentors, but those with few resources are likely to benefit more from having a mentor—particularly a teacher mentor—in their lives.

The practice of science as a mode of discovery is subject to change. This paper examines the "sciences" practiced by G. Stanley Hall in his Adolescence of 1904 and by contemporary researchers who study youth in 2004. After briefly reviewing the nature of Hall's empiricism, we draw on a representative sample of articles (n=182) published between 1999 and 2004 in specialty journals to analyze the interdisciplinary science of adolescence today. Results reveal that Hall was largely concerned with the conceptual and empirical description of phenomena, and he seldom offered causal explanations. In contrast, contemporary research frequently neglects description and emphasizes causal modeling. While a shift in focus from description to causation may seem a natural progression, we conclude by arguing that description is necessary even for a "mature" science. The study of adolescence needs a new regime of scientific practice that fully appreciates the value of both description and causal modeling.

AbstractFrom conception to death, helping relationships promote positive development and enable people to surmount challenges in their lives. Is it the case that the negative consequences of a genetic propensity for risky behaviors can be attenuated by helping relationships (a G × E)? But is it also the case that people with such a genetic propensity are less likely to have helping relationships compared to people without such a propensity (a rGE)? We illustrate this complex pattern of gene–environment interplay by drawing on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and a combinatoric analytic strategy. We focus on a gene associated with dopamine receptor type 2 (DRD2 TaqIA), student–mentor relationships, and educational continuation beyond secondary school. Results reveal that, for both white and black males, DRD2 A1+ (A1A1 and A1A2 genotypes) is associated with a decreased likelihood of school continuation compared to their counterparts with DRD2 A1–; mentors who are teachers compensate for this negative association (a G × E); and youth with DRD2 A1+ are less likely to have a mentor who is a teacher than their counterparts with DRD2 A1– (a rGE).

Asian-American students have some of the highest scores for standardized tests in American schools—a pattern that is commonly attributed to immigrant selectivity. We extend this line of inquiry by examining mixed-race couples and their children. Using both the ECLS-K cohorts of 1998 and 2010, we document the persistence of the Asian-American educational advantage over time by comparing the math and reading scores of white students (1998 n = 6700; 2010 n = 4500) with Asian-American (1998 n = 500; 2010 n = 600) and biracial Asian/white (1998 n = 150; 2010 n = 150) students at the start of elementary school. Surprisingly, in bivariate models, biracial Asian/white students have some of the highest math and reading scores. Socioeconomic factors are an important part of this advantage. When we examine parenting practices, we find that parenting works in opposite directions for biracial and monoracial Asian couples—decreasing the size of the biracial Asian/white educational advantage but increasing the size of the Asian-American advantage compared with their white kindergartener peers at school entry.

AbstractOne increasingly important problem affecting rural health care selection is the tendency of older residents to bypass local health care providers. This research investigates how the effects of community characteristics and attachment on health care bypass behavior vary between rural retirement‐age migrants and retirement‐age long‐term residents. Non‐health‐related behaviors, such as purchasing goods and services outside one's community during a health care trip, that is, "outshopping," could influence bypass if individuals combine trips for their medical care with other consumer needs. Basing our work on the outshopping theory, we argue that bypass behavior is one facet of consumer consumption patterns for both rural retirement‐age migrants and long‐term residents. In addition, dissatisfaction with local health care and services like shopping can "push" rural residents to bypass local health care and travel greater distances for primary health care. We further contend that strong community attachment has an opposite "pull" effect that can help to negate the push of outshopping and reduce the likelihood of bypass. Our results reveal retirement‐age migrants are significantly more likely to bypass local primary health care providers than retirement‐age long‐term residents. Furthermore, our analysis bridges the rural health care and retirement community development literature to suggest that outshopping theory can now be applied to rural primary health care bypass behavior.

Neighborhood effects, or the development of community by neighborhoods, are often studied in an urban context. Previous research has neglected to examine the influence of neighborhoods in nonurban settings. Our case study, however, contributes to the existing literature as it takes place in a small, rural-to-urban town at an important point in time where the town was urbanizing. We find that neighborhood effects also influence community satisfaction and attachment in Creekdale, an urbanizing town. Using survey data (N = 1006) drawn from the Creekdale Community Citizens Viewpoint Survey (CCVS), we find that, contrary to conventional wisdom, population size and density does not matter necessarily for an individual's community attachment and satisfaction; community experience is shaped by neighborhood effects.