The Role of the Rural Context in the Transition to Adulthood: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Rural adolescents are transitioning to adulthood in the context of growing disparities. To advance research on the social, behavioral, and contextual factors that influence rural young adult development, this study conducted a scoping review. The review sought to identify how researchers defined rural and how/which theories guided their work; how they integrated the rural context into the research design and methods; and how they used variables, concepts, and outcomes to measure rural experiences. Included articles were published between January 2009 and November 2020, included young adults ages 18–29, measured adult role achievement and/or behavioral health outcomes and reported on these outcomes for young adults, and focused on a rural sample within the United States. A systematic search of four databases resulted in 25 empirical articles for the inductive, qualitative analysis. Most studies used atheoretical approaches focusing on outcomes related to adult social roles, substance use, and mental health. Five themes emerged focused on the definitions of rural, the level of integration into the research design and method, and variables salient to the rural experience. These results reveal that future research should clearly define the rural context and better integrate the rural context into the conceptualization, design, methods, and implications of the empirical research.

Young People’s Perceptions of Transitioning from School to Higher Education: A Cross-National Perspective

“…People's life cycles have been understood as transitions between life domains (Walther et al, 2022). For example, most societies in history have defined events acknowledging an individual's transition from childhood to adulthood such as coming-of-age ceremonies when children reach puberty (Fenton et al, 2022). Contemporary societies present two distinctive aspects regarding such transitions: firstly, transitions are increasingly institutionalized and mediated by institutions and organizations related to education and employment (e.g., schools, universities, companies, public agencies), and the institutions that in turn regulate those organizations (Perrow, 1992).…”