ABSTRACT
Rural youth may lack experience in dealing with street life, and thus, fall prey to pimps and others who provide attention and make promises of a better life. In contrast, the metropolitan/non-metropolitan classification may be more useful in differentiating lifestyles and attitudes in the rural and urban Midwest. Dividing the population into rural and urban segments on youth and family issues may be shortsighted. Another change facing the rural as well as urban family in the US is women’s labor force participation. Child care is another major concern of urban and rural families. One of the reasons that many young couples, rural or urban, find that both must work is to afford the increasing costs of housing. Drugs like crack, thought to be confined to the toughest urban neighborhoods, have been a source of violent crimes in rural areas. Rural hospitals have other problems, too, as population shifts have reduced the market for health care services.
