Rural Youth Residential Preferences: Understanding the Youth Development-Community Development Nexus

Abstract

Residential aspirations of youth are influenced by family, school, and community characteristics. This study uses data from 7th and 11th grade students in 10 rural Pennsylvania school districts to identify community characteristics associated with rural youth aspirations to live in their home community when they are 30-years-old. Multinomial logistic regression models comparing rural home community to other places and don't know responses show that 7th and 11th grade youth who like their community “a lot” and who perceive their community to offer viable career opportunities are more likely to want to stay in their home community. Higher educational aspirations are associated with higher odds of wanting to leave the home community. Just over 60% of the youth in this study want to live somewhere other than their rural home community as an adult.