A22-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 10, 1993 UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) Many rural residents who rate themselves as less healthy and happy than their urban counter parts may not know how well off they really are, Penn State re searchers say. “We looked at recent data on health and well-being of Ameri can adults and found that rural re sidents age 19 and older consist ently rate their physical health as poorer than non-rural residents,” noted Dr. David J. Eggebeen, as sociate professor of human devel opment in the College of Health and Human Development. “Fur thermore, both young-adult and elderly rural residents rate them selves as less happy than non-rural residents.” However, the sagie data indi cate that middle-aged and elderly rural residents are the most likely to be healthy as measured by the absence of any of eight physical, mental and social health impair ments. They also average the low est number of such impairments among the respondents lower even than young adults in any resi dential classification. Eggebcen says the roots of the poor health and happiness self-as sessments from rural residents are unknown, as the ratings remain low even when differences in so cial class and family structure are taken into account. Furthermore, no disadvantages to rural life are evident in the re ports as far as activity limitations or higher rates of chronic illness or disability are concerned. ■SEE OUR NEW EFFICIENT ERA WOOD STOVES _____ Cedar Crest Equipment Two Convenient Locations cOt 406 Evergreen Rd. * RD 2 Sox 271 Lebanon, PA 11042 East Eart, PA 17519 (717) 270-MOO (717) 354-0664 \U ( rsrOM I) F S 1 (, \ SYSTEMS FOR YOU Rural Living Is Healthier Eggebeen studied the matter with Dr. Daniel T. Lichter, profes sor of sociology in the College of the Liberal Arts. Their Endings, released by Penn State’s Popula tion Research Institute, appeared in the spring 1993 issue of the Journal of Rural Health. The researchers used data from the 1988 National Survey of Families and Households to iso late differences in health and well being based on the survey respon dents’ age and area of residence. Respondents were classified in to four types of residences: urban (living in counties with a metro politan area’s central city), subur ban (living in metropolitan coun ties with no central city), rural-ur ban fringe (living in Are your layers getting the full amount of feed needed for peak production? Are they giving top performance during the entire laying cycle? Don’t be fooled by different feeding systems that Potdiman. tHS H C V 255 PLANE TREE DRIVE LANCASTER r PA 17603 ■ EQUIPMENT CO. 393-5807 non-metropolitan counties adja cent to a metropolitan county), and rural Giving in counties that are both non-metropolitan and non-adjacent to a metropolitan county). “The conventional wisdom is that a disproportionate share of the nation’s chronically ill live in small towns and rural areas,” Lichter said. “The lack of quick access to primary care units, social isolation and higher poverty pre sumably place rural people at a health disadvantage compared with their metropolitan counter parts. “That may sound sensible on paper, but the numbers tell a dif ferent, more complex, story.” For instance, nearly 46 percent OUTPUT DEPENDS ON INPUT