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Data from the National Longitudinal Study of High School Seniors (1972) were utilized to examine the effects of school personnel on educational and occupational decisions of farm-reared students. Information was gathered on 10 "significant others" grouped into 5 types: (1) ego--influence of self; (2) family--parents and relatives; (3) friends; (4) educators--guidance counselors, teachers, and principal; and (5) others--clergymen, state employment officers, and "other" adults. Respondents were asked to indicate the degree of influence that each significant other exercised on choice of high school curriculum and post-high school plans. Data indicated that students perceived teachers, guidance counselors, and school principals as having less impact on curriculum and post-high school plans than parents and friends. Family influences were the most salient. Status differences among farm youth did not explain most of the variation in the relatively small influence of school personnel on curriculum choice and future plans. Variations were only weakly predicted by ability. However, some variation by status did appear for specific post-high school activities. Farm youth of higher status backgrounds were more highly encouraged to continue college studies while those of lower status were more highly encouraged to take vocational/technical courses. (Author/CM)

Focusing on a 2-county rural area of Mississippi, 230 female Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients were divided into 4 groups to ascertain the differential effects that additions of higher levels of financial assistance and/or services over a period of a year (1967-68) would have on life styles and potentials for upward mobility. Reflecting distinctive concepts of public assistance, the four groups included: (1) a control group; (2) Title V: Training and Income; (3) 1115: Special Services; and (4) 1115: Income Only. Data on the program variables were collected via official records and case worker/researcher consultations and a follow-up interview. Changes in financial status, life style, and personal orientations were examined. Results indicated: the greatest number of significantly different changes occurred among recipients of both training and income (Group II); followed by those receiving income only; changes among income only recipients were more clearly seen in immediate changes in family financial status than in style of life or personal orientation; there was some evidence that work experience and training in Group II was beginning by the time of the second interview to effect the degree of client rationality regarding work; substantial change in client welfare required substantial input (level of input was the most predictive factor in the study). (JC)

Facilities and staff, financing, administration, and social/behavioral problems are four areas of the educational systems of rural schools impacted by the rapid population growth resulting from the urban-to-rural migration begun in the 1970's and expected to last several decades. Overcrowding of facilities is a short-range problem for communities with economic and public support, but a long-range problem for those unable to initiate a satifactory solution. Greater local revenues result from greater population, yet there may be rural resistance to the ideas of urban newcomers. Short-range administrative problems and paperwork overloads occur with increased school population. Social/behavioral problems, such as discipline and alcohol misuse, also increase. Educational systems will experience both positive and negative effects of the growth process, but substantial economic and social costs can be avoided with early long-range planning. The extent to which rural community leaders should and can anticipate and respond to population growth and its resultant changes is critical. Scenarios of two different rural communities--a "boomtown" and a town exemplifying "social amenities growth"--demonstrate that the impacts of rapid growth on rural education are significantly influenced by economic and social factors in the larger community arena. (SB)

Rapid population growth in rural areas has confronted rural communities and particularly rural educational systems with a number of problems. Sudden, large increases in students crowd school facilities and strain budgets. The different values, attitudes, and orientations toward education of the newcomers act as a catalyst for changes and can cause conflict within the community. In 1978 the U.S. Department of Agriculture studied two communities confronted by such drastic, rapid population growth. In both cases the educational system was afflicted with student overload and crowded facilities. The town of "Reliance" had not experienced economic growth commensurate with its population boom and voters there were unwilling to bear increased taxation for schools. Unsatisfactory stop-gap solutions to overcrowding led to even greater dissatisfaction and negative attitudes among community members. The mining boom town of "Appaloosa" did have a strong economic base and townspeople there worked together to secure improved facilities, more teachers, and stronger school programs. The two community case studies include discussion of general community settings, the educational systems as impacted by rapid growth, school-community relations, and ways school districts and communities coped with the impacts. (Author/DS)

A reliable system of social indicators reported as composite numerical indexes has utility for both research and policy purposes. Composite indicators can summarize the broad and abstract conditions of well-being which cannot be readily described with a single indicator or series of single indicators. They provide simple, readily interpretable pictures of variations in well-being across the nation. Based on selected 1970 Census and Vital Statistics data, four composite indexes to describe social well-being were developed; socioeconomic status, health status, family status, and social pathology formed the constructs underlying the indexes. Utility of the indicators was demonstrated with an analysis of metro-nonmetro and regional differences in social well-being in 3,097 counties across the nation. Large metro-nonmetro differences were shown for socioeconomic status and health status, but little difference in family status and social pathology was observed. Regionally, socioeconomic status, health status, and family status were highest in the North and West and lowest in the South. Social pathology was highest in the West and lowest in South and North Central counties. Methodology described includes data selection, principal components analysis, derivation of factor scores, and conversion of the index to a common scale. (DS)

Patterns of communication among residents of a predominantly rural county in Ohio were analyzed in 1975 to examine behavioral and attitudinal patterns regarding mass communication systems, and to test the extent to which variations in attitudes toward mass media were a function of variations in socio-economic and demographic characteristics. Hypotheses addressed three issues: the extent to which rural people relied upon mass media for informational needs; attitudinal dispositions toward mass media; and the explanation of the expected patterns of variations in these dispositions. Respondents (N=345) were predominantly older males and about 45% reported that they were engaged in either full or part-time agriculture. After ranking the five most important county problems (lack of jobs, crime, poor roads, poor leadership, and poor schools), respondents provided information on their use of mass media. The results revealed a high level of mass media usage for all types of informational needs, general satisfaction with the media, low level of perceived credibility in television news reporting, and low ability to predict variations in attitudes about credibility from knowledge of demographic characteristics and other social-psychological orientations. Reliance on mass media had become a dominant pattern of communication within the county. (BRR)