Rural and urban adolescents' perceptions of mental health

Adolescence, Winter, 1998 by Kathryn M. Chimonides, Deborah I. Frank

Sixty-five percent stated that their parents were married, 27% were divorced (8% had remarried), and 8% had never married. Eight percent (n = 17) described themselves as only children, while 60% (n = 132) stated that they had 1 or 2 siblings. Twenty-two percent (n = 48) of the students had 3 or 4 brothers or sisters, while 10% (n = 22) had 5 or more siblings. Sixty-four percent of the students lived with both parents, 28% lived with one parent, and 8% stated other living arrangements. Forty-three percent (n = 95) of the mothers and 35% of the fathers (n = 78) had high school diplomas. Only 4% (n = 9) of the parents worked in farming, fishing, or forestry. The majority of students believed their families had average incomes. Ten percent (n = 21) of the families had incomes under $10,000. The people in the rural area were more geographically isolated than were those in the urban communities. Department stores, movie theaters, and hospitals were more than 25 miles from their homes.

Rural/Urban Differences

Several vignettes revealed significant rural/urban differences. One vignette described a man abusing alcohol. He held a job, but had problems with his relationships with his wife and children (see Table 1).

[TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 1 OMITTED]

Analysis of variance showed that students who grew up in a rural area believed the man's behavior was healthier than did students who came from a metropolitan area or suburb of a city (see Table 1). Rural students were more accepting of alcohol abuse, consistent with findings by Larson (1978) indicating that people in rural areas believe alcohol should be easier to obtain.

A second vignette that revealed significant differences based on the size of the community where students grew up described a man who went on spending sprees and was in debt in spite of running a successful business (see Table 2). Analysis of variance showed that students who grew up in a city (population of 100,000 to 499,999) believed the man's behavior was healthier than did students who grew up in a small city (50,000 to 99,000 people) or small town (2,500 to 9,999 people).

Another vignette revealed rural/urban differences when the data were examined by rural and urban schools. It described a woman who was experiencing signs of depression (see Table 3). Analysis of variance showed that students from the rural school believed the woman's behavior was more unhealthy than did students from the two urban schools. When the data were analyzed using a 2-way ANOVA (school and race), no significant rural/urban differences were found that were attributable to race, even though one urban school was for black students.

Gender and Ethnic Background

Gender was a variable that was found to be related to students' views about mental health. Females thought that the behaviors described were more unhealthy than did males. The vignettes in which this finding was significant were the ones describing child abuse (F = 8.908, p [less than] .003), spouse abuse (F = 16.551, p [less than] .0001), adult alcohol abuse (F = 8.940, p [less than] .003), impulse spending (F = 5.923, p [less than] .01), and the use of corporal punishment by an abusive father (F = 18.675, p [less than] .000).