Coös County’s class of 2009: Where are they now?

Key Findings and Recommendations from the Coös Youth Study: Research from the First Half of the Study

“…4 • Seventy-six percent of the class of 2009 follow-up participants rate leaving Coös County as highly or moderately important; however, 93 percent also report living close to family as highly or moderately important, suggesting conflicted priorities. 4 • While the majority feel it is important to live near their families as adults, more than half of Coös youth report they are unlikely to remain in their communities most of their lives and more than onethird say they are likely to leave and never return. 17 • Parents' messages to stay or leave Coös County are linked to youths' future residential plans.…”

“…3 • The percentage of Coös Class of 2009 participants reporting that it is easy for people their age to find a job in Coös County has declined significantly from 67 percent in 2008, to 39 percent in 2009, and down to 19 percent in 2011. 4 • One-third of adolescents in Coös County reported perceiving that their family is experiencing significant economic pressure. These adolescents were more likely to report negative parent-child and sibling relationships one year later.…”

Socioeconomic Strain, Family Ties, and Adolescent Health in a Rural Northeastern County

“…The rural Northeast has experienced widespread loss of manufacturing jobs-jobs that historically sustained the region's rural economy (Glasmeier and Salant 2006)-and residents in the rural county under study have witnessed this economic decline firsthand (Colocousis 2008;Colocousis and Young 2011;Jaffee 2012;Stracuzzi 2009). A rise in the county's unemployment rate, from 5.2 percent at the first wave to 7.9 percent at the second wave (one year later), coincides with dramatic reductions in respondents' optimism about finding work in their home communities (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014;Van Gundy et al forthcoming).…”