Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

CiteULike is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references - click here to get started.

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
American Behavioral Scientist
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pretty, G.
Right arrow Articles by Pannach, W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

The Relevance of Community Sentiments to Australian Rural Youths’ Intention to Stay in Their Home Communities

Grace Pretty

University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia, pretty{at}usq.edu.au

Paul Bramston

University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia

Jeff Patrick

University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia

Wendy Pannach

Queensland Health, Toowoomba, Australia

This study explores whether community sentiment factors can mediate structural disadvantage factors in rural youths’ intentions to stay in their home communities. In total, 3,023 Australians ages 13 to 18 years responded to items assessing community sentiment (belonging, sense of community, and social support) and subjective quality of life. Structural disadvantage was represented by population size. Participants responded to "If I could get a job here or go to University/College here, I would choose to stay in this town for the foreseeable future." Findings indicate all factors had a positive relationship with intention to stay; however, only belonging partially mediates the effect of size of community. The combined effects for all factors account for 19% more of the variability in intention to stay than the size of community alone. Discussion considers how focus on structural factors alone restricts the understanding of push-pull dynamics facing rural youth.

Key Words: rural youth migration • community sentiment

American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 50, No. 2, 226-240 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0002764206290636
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?