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
<OiJ < COMMER
LAYER CON
GIVE US A
/F IT’S WORTH YOUR INVESTMENT, TRUST IT TO HERSHEY
, of the middle-aged rural residents
had none of the health impair
ments targeted by the study, com
pared to 36 percent of those in
fringe areas and 39 percent in cen
tral cities. Among the elderly,
more than a third of a rural resi
dents were in good health, com
pared to less than a fourth of those
in central cities and 27 percent of
those in suburban areas.
A somewhat better-deserved
image of rural life is that it is quiet
and less hectic, the researchers
say. They found that rural adults,
regardless of age, were much
more likely to be socially connect
could come up short on deliveiy.
Go with the system that has
proven itself year after year.
Go with the Big Dutchman Chain
Feeding System.
ed than those living elsewhere, es
pecially in terms of greater in
volvement with family members.
Also, the middle-aged and elderly
rural respondents tended to show
the highest levels of organization
al involvement
“In short, the idea that all rural
adults are in poorer health than ur
ban-dwelling residents is not sup
ported by the data we examined,”
Eggebeen said. “And as far as
family ties and social health are
concerned, rural adults appear to
possess large advantages over ur
ban residents.”
K