Nonmetropolitan Communities Research Articles

Factors Correlated to Protective and Risk Dietary Patterns in Immigrant Latino Mothers in Non-metropolitan Rural Communities

Immigrant Latinos face conditions which over time negatively impact their nutritional behaviors and health outcomes. Our objective was to evaluate associations between environmental and lifestyle factors and both protective dietary patterns (e.g., intake of fruits and vegetables) and harmful dietary patterns (e.g., consumption of salty snacks and fast food). Surveys were individually and orally administered to 105 foreign-born Latina mothers living in rural locations in a Midwestern state. Principal component analysis created composite variables for each construct and Spearman correlationswere conducted to determine associations. Protective dietary patterns were positively associated with access to food and information (ρs=0.21) and language acculturation (ρs=0.24), and negatively associated with family challenges (ρs=-0.31). Food insecurity was negatively associated with harmful dietary patterns (ρs=-0.24). Findings suggest that rural Latino dietary interventions should be complemented with comprehensive strategies addressing environmental and lifestyle factors across ecological domains.

Decision-Making Criteria for Workforce Development Boards Systematic Review

This policy systematic review focuses on the team structure and strategic decision- making processes of workforce development boards (WDBs) from 37 states and territories of the United States classified as distressed, underserved, and nonmetropolitan communities. Practitioners and policy makers alike have deemed systematic reviews essential. The systematic review process is employed for this research to identify what is known, how the information is known, and varies across studies specifically focused on WDB team composition and decision making processes. The literature search yielded over 1,495 studies, but the inclusion and exclusion criteria reduced the correlating primary studies to 516 studies. Using a configurative approach, a realist synthesis model, and the theoretical framework lens of Zeleny’s Multi-Criteria, MultiDecision Making/Analysis (MCDM/MCDA) and Hackman& Oldham team concepts, the researcher was able to gather an inductive meaning to form ideas and theories, answer the research questions that examine WDB decision-making strategies, board structural policies, and team effectiveness. The study’s basis is the 2012 national call for papers by the U.S. Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, who identifies a series of evidence-based research initiatives and strategies for the Employment Training Administration (ETA) that spearheaded the 2013 reframing of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) 1998. This study examines the WIA 2013 evidence-based transferal in workforce development program (WDP) models and the shift that further accentuates the role of WDBs. Collectively, these constructs serve as the variables within this study’s predictions of analytical methods to national improve workforce development outcomes in the 37 states and territories of the U.S. classified as distressed, underserved, and nonmetropolitan. Two sets of independent and dependent variables guide this study: 1) IV–decision-making process; DV– achievement of workforce priorities; 2) IV–team composition; DV–board effectiveness, along with two epistemological questions that address the theories of knowing and an understanding of the phenomenon, while addressing the how and what: 1) How do the WDBs of distressed, underserved, and nonmetropolitan communities decision-making process or lack thereof impact achieving prescribed D.O.L. workforce priorities? 2) How do the policy of WIA 2013 statutory team composition and the societal environment impact board effectiveness?

Motivations for Involvement in Nonmetropolitan LGBTQ Organizations: A Multimethod Qualitative Exploration

Organizations serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities provide services aimed at improving the health and well-being of LGBTQ people, yet may face limited resources and community support in nonmetropolitan communities. This study seeks to understand LGBTQ individuals’ motivations for becoming and staying involved in nonmetropolitan LGBTQ organizations. Data collection methods included interviews, participant observation, and focus groups. Six categories of motivations emerged: (1) to access support and resources; (2) to establish an LGBTQ community; (3) to be generative; (4) to affirm identity; (5) to support an LGBTQ organization; and (6) to combine one’s personal and professional lives.

Sex trafficking of minors in metropolitan, micropolitan, and rural communities

The purpose of the study was to examine professionals’ awareness, knowledge, and experiences working with youth victims of sex trafficking in metropolitan and non-metropolitan communities. Professionals who worked with at-risk youth and/or crime victims were recruited from all counties in a southern, rural state in the U.S. to complete a telephone survey. Surveys included closed and open-ended questions, which were theme coded. Professionals’ (n=289) were classified into one of four categories based on the counties in which they worked: metropolitan, micropolitan, rural, and all three community types. Although there were many similarities found in trafficking situations across the different types of communities, some expected differences were found. First, as expected, more professionals in metropolitan communities perceived CSEC as being a fairly or very serious problem in the state overall. Consistent with other studies, more professionals in metropolitan communities had received training on human trafficking and reported they were familiar with the state and federal laws on human trafficking (Newton et al., 2008). Significantly more professionals in metropolitan (54.7%) communities reported they had worked with a suspected or definite victim of STM compared to professionals in micropolitan communities (29.8%). There were few differences in victim characteristics, vulnerability factors, and trafficking situations (e.g., relationship to trafficker, traffickers’ techniques for controlling victims, transportation, and Internet-facilitation of trafficking) across the community types. There is a continued need for awareness building of STM and training, particularly in non-metropolitan communities, as well as adoption of screening tools, integration of trauma-informed care, and identification of best practices.

Brief Report #3: Building a Rural Community Caregiver Network: Student Learning in Small Town America

The Rural Caregiver Network Project in Eastern Maine is a prime example of indigenous coalition-building in a region struggling to ensure that vulnerable older adults can age-in-place and manage with scarce resources. Through this innovative initiative, a range of elder caregiver interventions were mobilized, coordinated, and sustained in a rural two-county region in Maine, including navigator services, adult day care, information and referral, caregiver support groups, a caregiver resource center, and caregiver skills-building workshops. The endorsement of participatory research, evaluation, and programming principles enabled undergraduate and graduate social work students to assume major roles in all aspects of project planning, implementation, and assessment while remaining grounded in the realities of rural life. Competence in such a generalist gerontological social work practice perspective is critical in small towns and nonmetropolitan communities.

Seeking Reemployment in Nonmetropolitan America

Unemployment is particularly pervasive in nonmetropolitan communities with few employment opportunities. The authors examined how unemployed nonmetropolitan adults’ daily affective experiences influenced same‐day and next‐day job search times. Positive affect and high reemployment beliefs were related to higher same‐day, but not next‐day, job search times. Next‐day job search times were higher when job seekers reported high effort and perceived progress on the previous day. Lower job search times occurred after days of low effort with high progress perceptions or if high effort was paired with low progress. Theoretical implications, limitations, and practical applications are discussed.

Friends as a Bridge to Parental Influence: Implications for Adolescent Alcohol Use.

The current study investigates the possibility that friendship networks connect adolescents to influence from a broader group of adults beyond their own families. In doing so, we combine two rich traditions of research on adult influence on children and adolescents. Family research has suggested a number of ways in which effective parenting can reduce deviant behavior among adolescents. In addition, research on neighborhoods has advanced the idea that adults outside of the immediate family can exert social control that may reduce deviance. We employ longitudinal social network analysis to examine data drawn from the PROSPER Peers Project, a longitudinal study of adolescents following over 12,000 students in 27 non-metropolitan communities as they moved from 6th through 9th grade. We find evidence that the behavior of friends' parents is linked, both directly and indirectly, to adolescent alcohol use. Findings suggest that much of the influence from friends' parents is mediated through peer behavior, but that parental knowledge reported by friends continues to be associated with alcohol use even when controlling for competing mechanisms. Furthermore, adolescents tend to choose friends who report similar levels of parenting as themselves. Our results provide support for the position that friendships in adolescence connect youth to a broader network of adults and illustrate how adults outside of the family contribute to the social control of adolescents.

Methodology for conducting the Children’s Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Telemental Health Treatment Study in multiple underserved communities

Children living in nonmetropolitan communities are underserved by evidence-based mental health care and are underrepresented in clinical trials. In this article, we describe lessons learned in conducting the Children's Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Telemental Health (TMH) Treatment Study (CATTS), a randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of TMH in improving outcomes of children with ADHD living in underserved communities. Children were referred by primary care providers (PCPs). The test intervention group received six telepsychiatry sessions with each session followed by an caregiver behavior training session delivered in-person by a local therapist. A secure website was used to support decision making by the telepsychiatrists and to facilitate real-time collaboration between the telepsychiatrists and community therapists. The control group received a single telepsychiatry consultation. Questionnaires tapping ADHD symptoms and other outcomes were administered to parents and teachers online through a secure portal from personal computers. total of 88 PCPs in seven communities referred the 223 children who participated in the trial. Attrition in treatment sessions and research assessments was very low. Lessons learned TMH proved to be a viable means of providing evidence-based pharmacological services to children and training to local therapists. Recruitment was enhanced by offering the control group a telepsychiatry consultation. Site-specific strategies were needed to meet recruitment targets. The CATTS trial used methods designed to optimize inclusion of children living in multiple dispersed and underserved areas. The study will serve as a model for other research projects aiming at reducing geographic disparities in access to quality mental health care.

Regional Resilience

This paper reports on the outcomes of a two year ALTC Competitive Research and Development Project that aimed to "Develop Strategies at the Pre-Service Level to Address Critical Teacher Attraction and Retention Issues in Australian Rural, Regional and Remote Schools". As well as developing a ‘training framework’ and teaching guides to increase the capacity and credibility of four universities to prepare educators who might venture out of the metropolitan area to teach, data were gathered from pre-service and graduate teachers to analyse regional resilience. It was found that there was a strong likelihood to participate in a regional practicum and stay in a non-metropolitan community once they graduated from university if they had a positive attitude to regional Western Australia either through a family connection or previous experience. Recommendations from this study emphasise the importance of having pre-service students participate in positive regional experiences early in their university study.

SPREAD AND BACKWASH EFFECTS FOR NONMETROPOLITAN COMMUNITIES IN THE U.S.

ABSTRACTFew studies empirically estimate the effects of metropolitan growth on nonmetropolitan communities at a national scale. This paper estimates the growth effects of 276 MSAs on population in 1,988 nonmetropolitan communities in the United States from 2000 to 2007. We estimate the distance for growth spillovers from MSAs to nonmetropolitan communities and test the assumption that a single MSA influences growth. We compare three methods of weighting cities’ influence: nearest city only, inverse‐distance, and relative commuting flow to multiple cities. We find the inverse‐distance approach provides slightly more reliable and theoretically supportable results than the traditional nearest city approach.

Sales Tax Collections in Nonmetropolitan Communities

Small communities sometimes increase their local sales tax rate in order to maintain or expand public services. The question addressed here is what is the net effect of changing sales tax rates on revenues from sales taxes? Using both semiparametric and nonparametric regression, we find retail sales to be mostly unaffected by sales tax rates as long as the local rate is less than 4 percent. At rates higher than 4 percent, however, there is a severe reduction in sales, yet not enough that sales tax revenues would decrease with increased rates. For a penny increase in sales tax rates from 4 cents, a city can expect their revenues to go up 0.86 cents according to the semiparametric model and 0.74 cents according to the parametric model.

Explaining Crime in Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Communities

Traditional urban theories of community crime development increasingly are being adapted and evaluated for their relevance to the crime problems of smaller and less urban settings. Most notable of these have been social disorganization theory and civic community theory. This paper compares these two major theoretical frameworks for explaining community-level variations in crime, using county-level data on crime rates merged with data on the economic, geographic, population, and ecological features of counties in the U.S. The study finds that both traditional social disorganization and civic community theories are good predictors of some, but not all, types of crime, in the largest metropolitan areas. However, their predictive power declines substantially when applied to the most rural communities.

Community partnerships as a tool to reduce regional labor gaps: A South Carolina regional case study

Twenty-first century economies may require innovative, entrepreneurial development policy, but many economically distressed communities face immediate human capital and labor market concerns that prevent them from implementing these approaches. A series of regional focus groups and interviews reveal some of the community and economic development challenges that non-metropolitan communities experience in an environment of globalization and industrial restructuring. Without addressing ongoing human capital weaknesses, these communities are at continued risk of falling further behind. This analysis underscores the importance of strong civic infrastructure and community efficacy for successful development efforts. Finally, this research discusses the potential of using regional partnerships to reduce or eliminate persistent labor supply and skill gaps in the region.

Extending the Hyperghetto: Toward a Theory of Punishment, Race, and Rural Disadvantage

Within the sociology of punishment the hyperghetto provides a theoretical framework connecting structural and cultural linkages across mass incarceration, race, and urban disadvantage. Although this nexus is recognized as a focal point driving the prison building boom of the last 40 years, less is known about the role of rural disadvantage in this process. This is surprising given that more than 60% of the 1,600+ U.S. prison facilities are located in nonmetropolitan communities. Here, the author argues that by extending the hyperghetto we can better understand the confluences of race, punishment, and rural disadvantage in the U.S. prison-building boom. Implications for future research are as follows: first, the hyperghetto can help explain the reorganization of space in rural communities, the context of the prison-building boom, and the impact of the criminal justice system in rural communities; second, the hyperghetto provides a discursive connection between rural and urban microlevel community functions of stigma and disadvantage; third, the hyperghetto can be used to anchor a new critical rural criminological discourse.

Who should receive recruitment and retention incentives? Improved targeting of rural doctors using medical workforce data

The objective of this study was to define an improved classification for allocating incentives to support the recruitment and retention of doctors in rural Australia. Geo-coded data (n = 3636 general practitioners (GPs)) from the national Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life study were used to examine statistical variation in four professional indicators (total hours worked, public hospital work, on call after-hours and difficulty taking time off) and two non-professional indicators (partner employment and schooling opportunities) which are all known to be related to difficulties with recruitment and retention. The main outcome measure used for the study was an association of six sentinel indicators for GPs with practice location and population size of community. Four distinct homogeneous population size groups were identified (0-5000, 5001-15,000, 15,001-50,000 and >50,000). Although geographical remoteness (measured using the Australian Standard Geographical Classification-Remoteness Areas (ASGC-RA)) was statistically associated with all six indicators (P < 0.001), population size provided a more sensitive measure in directing where recruitment and retention incentives should be provided. A new six-level rurality classification is proposed, based on a combination of four population size groups and the five ASGC-RA levels. A significant increase in statistical association is measured in four of six indicators (and a slight increase in one indicator) using the new six-level classification versus the existing ASGC-RA classification. This new six-level geographical classification provides a better basis for equitable resource allocation of recruitment and retention incentives to doctors based on the attractiveness of non-metropolitan communities, both professionally and non-professionally, as places to work and live.

Interparental aggression and infant patterns of adrenocortical and behavioral stress responses.

Drawing on emotional security theory, this study examined linkages between interparental aggression, infant self-regulatory behaviors, and patterns of physiological and behavioral stress responses in a diverse sample of 735 infants residing in predominately low-income, non-metropolitan communities. Latent profile analysis revealed four classes of adrenocortical and behavioral stress-response patterns at 7 months of age, using assessments of behavioral and cortisol reactivity to an emotion eliciting challenge, as well as global ratings of the child's negative affect and basal cortisol levels. The addition of covariates within the latent profile model suggested that children with more violence in the home and children who used less caregiver-oriented regulation strategies were more likely to exhibit a pattern of high cortisol reactivity with moderate signs of distress rather than the average stress response, suggesting possible patterns of adaptation in violent households.

Nonmetropolitan GLBTQ Parents: When and Where Does Their Sexuality Matter?

Twenty-two parents, representing 15 GLBTQ-parent families living in nonmetropolitan communities in Illinois, were interviewed about their interactions with others in community settings. A total of 345 interactions were coded by sexual orientation salience (no, yes) and setting (private, public, organizational). Roughly half of the interactions (N = 156, 45%) were those in which parents said that their sexual orientation did not matter; nonsalience was more likely to occur in private or organizational settings rather than public. Regarding salience, parents described a slightly higher proportion of interactions in which their sexual orientation did matter (N = 189, 55%). Of these, salience was most likely to occur in organizational settings rather than public or private. Parents most commonly described salience that occurred in organizational settings as negative rather than positive. Regarding desired resources, parents prioritized support and socialization for their children rather than for themselves, but they desired resources that clearly identified their children as having GLBTQ parents (i.e., resources where parental sexual orientation was salient). These findings suggest a strong recommendation for improving organizational policies related to education, health care, employment, and family services so that GLBTQ parents and their children are openly acknowledged by staff without negative overtones.

“You Live Where?!” Lesbian Mothers' Attachment to Nonmetropolitan Communities

A positive attachment to one's residential community has been linked to better mental health (McLaren, 2009), stronger social support (Young, Russell, & Powers, 2004), and a higher quality of life (Mak, Cheung, & Law, 2009). Attachment to residential community has been understudied in research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families. The current study attempts to fill this gap by using family and minority stress theories to examine the predictors of residential community attachment among 77 lesbian mothers living in nonmetropolitan communities. Our findings indicate that stronger residential community attachment is predicted by more frequent contact with family of origin, low religiosity, and an interaction between close LGBT friendships and the presence of at least one local LGBT organization. Contrary to expectations, anti-LGBT victimization perpetrated by community members did not have an effect on residential community attachment. Key Words: attachment to community, family of origin, LGBT community, lesbian mothers, nonmetropolitan, religiosity. Attachment to community is the emotional connection between person and place (Altaian & Low, 1992). It lies at the person-environment nexus such that who one is (identity) is merged with where one is (place; Stedman, 2002). A positive attachment to one's residential community has been linked to better mental health and social support (McLaren, 2009; McLaren, Jude, & McLachlan, 2008; Young, Russell, & Powers, 2004) as well as general quality of life (Mak, Cheung, & Law, 2009). Further, place attachment has been linked to place-protective behavior such that are willing to fight for places that are more central to our identities and that we perceive as being in less-than-optimal condition' ' (Stedman, 2002, p. 577). Thus, place attachment can have positive implications for individuals, families, and their communities. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Attachment to residential community has been understudied in research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families. Instead, we have a canon that has historically either ignored residential context or oversampled from urban areas (Oswald, 2007). This metronormative (Herring, 2007) stance is changing, thanks in part to Census data that documents samesex partner households in virtually every U.S. county; when these households include children they are likely to reside in less urbanized counties (Gates & Ost, 2004). The emerging social science research has found that nonmetropolitan areas pose both constraints and opportunities (Cohn & Hastings, 2010; Holman & Oswald, in press; Kinkier & Goldberg, 2011; Kosciw, Greytak, & Diaz, 2009; Oswald & Culton, 2003; Oswald & Masciadrelli, 2008). The question remains, however, as to why LGBT people, and parents in particular, would choose to live outside of an urban gay mecca (Stacey, 2006); presumably in these meccas LGBT families would be considered normal and have relatively easy access to LGBT-affirming resources. We surmise that LGBT people live where they do because they are attached to it; they have important emotional connections to their residential communities that may be related to sexuality, but may also be related to aspects of their lives not pertaining to their sexuality. We used ordinal regression to examine what factors predict attachment to community among a survey sample of 77 nonmetropolitan lesbian mothers. Residential community attachment was measured with a single item question; the rationale for, and limitations of, this approach are discussed. This research has theoretical and substantive importance because it can move us beyond urban versus rural stereotypes to understand the diversity of LGBT families and the complexities of nonmetropolitan communities. Further, it has practical importance for policy makers and practitioners who wish to promote the social inclusion of lesbian mothers and their families. …

Paternal Work Stress and Latent Profiles of Father-Infant Parenting Quality

The current study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to examine the implications of fathers' experiences of work stress for paternal behaviors with infants across multiple dimensions of parenting in a sample of fathers living in nonmetropolitan communities (N = 492). LPA revealed five classes of fathers based on levels of social-affective behaviors and linguistic stimulation measured during two father-infant interactions. Multinomial logistic regression analyses suggested that a less-supportive work environment was associated with fathers' membership in multiple lower-quality parenting classes. Greater work pressure and a nonstandard work schedule also predicted fathers' membership in the latent parenting classes, although these associations differed depending on the number of hours fathers spent in the workplace.

Interparental aggression, attention skills, and early childhood behavior problems

The current study explored longitudinal associations between interparental aggression, the development of child attention skills, and early childhood behavior problems in a diverse sample of 636 families living in predominately low-income, nonmetropolitan communities. The results of latent-variable, cross-lagged longitudinal models revealed that maternal-reported interparental aggression in infancy predicted reduced observed attention skills in toddlerhood; no association was observed, however, between attention in infancy and interparental aggression during the toddler years. Further, reduced toddler attention and high interparental aggression were both associated with increased risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and conduct problems at 3 years of age. Processes largely operated in similar ways regardless of child gender or low-income status, although a few differences were observed. Overall, the results suggest that interparental aggression undermines attention development, putting children's early behavioral adjustment at risk.