ABSfRAGr The relationship between community attachment and depression is examined in a sample survey (N = 295) in two midwestern rural towns and their surrounding open-country areas. When community attachment, a variable through which a rural resident's social integration into the local community affects mental health, was low, higher levels of symptoms of depression were observed. The economic viability of the local community was found to have a relationship to mean depression scores in the towns but not in the open-country areas.
The relationship between the different ways leaders may relate to rural communities and their ability to relate to extracommunity individuals and organizations is examined. Drawing from the insights of Merton (1957) into local and cosmopolitan influentials and a newer literature on community attachment, two dimensions of attachment to the local community are identified. A survey of 75 leaders in five midwestern rural communities provides evidence that sociodemographic and socialnetwork characteristics of leaders have different relationships to the two dimensions. Implications of the findings for understanding the effectiveness of leadership in rural communities are discussed. I This is a revised version of a paper presented at the annual meetings of the Rural Sociological Society in Columbus, Ohio, August 18-21, 1991. We wish to thank anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions for revision of the manuscript. Address all correspondence to David]. O'Brien, Department of Rural Sociology, 204A Sociology Building, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211.
The relationship between the social networks of leaders and community viability is examined in a comparative study of leaders (N = 75) in five rural communities (population range, 1,000 to 2,500). The analysis looks at leaders' connections to organizations outside of their communities and at different kinds of linkages between leaders within their respective communities. Leaders in more and less viable communities do not differ much in characteristics such as age, education, and occupations, but the presence of women in leadership positions is associated with community viability. In addition, there is some support for the expectation that leaders in more viable communities are more likely to have formal linkages to statewide and national networks. The most important finding, however, is that the way in which leaders relate to each other in instrumental tasks within their respective communities is associated with community viability.
Using 1995 data, this study re-examines the social networks of leaders in five more and less viable rural communities in Missouri which were originally studied in 1989 (O'Brien et al. 1991;O'Brien and Hassinger 1992). In the six year period between the 1989 and 1995 surveys, four of the five communities were impacted by major events, including the introduction of corporate hog production in two places and flooding in two others. However, despite these events, there is a high degree of continuity in the relative viability scores of the five places in the two surveys. Leaders in more viable places continue to work with a larger number of fellow leaders and to be more involved in community development organizations than their counterparts in less viable places. These findings show the importance of social capital for rural community viability.
With improvements in transportation and communication, rural consumers no longer are limited to their local trade center and personal factors become more important in shaping consumer patterns. With data from residents in two small rural communities in northwestern Missouri, this study examines the effects of consumers' socioeconomic characteristics, personal location situations, and community satisfaction on buying within the local community (inshopping) versus in other communities (outshopping) for selected goods and services. Age is the socioeconomic variable most strongly related to inshopping. Residing in the center versus open country, jobholders outside the community, and residing in the more viable community are related to shopping for certain of the goods and services as is satisfaction with the community. Location remains an important influence on shopping behavior but it needs to be conceptualized differently.
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