Economic Stress and Mental Health in Rural Iowa, Executive Summary by Danny R. Hoyt, 1988

(1988) Economic Stress and Mental Health in Rural Iowa, Executive Summary by Danny R. Hoyt, 1988. Human Services, Department of (Health and Human Services, Department of)

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Abstract

The population for this study consists of adults, age 18 or older, living in households located in rural Iowa. The definition of rural used in this study corresponds with the U.S. Census Bureau definition of all persons living in communities of 2,500 or less or in the country. A total of 529 rural household telephone numbers were randomly selected for the sampling list. Telephone interviews were completed with 414 of the respondents, representing a 78.3 percent response rate. The interviews were conducted during the month of July. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents (65.9%) lived in rural-farm households. This segment of the rural population was oversampled. The rural-farm household account for approximately one-third of the rural population in Iowa (Goudy, 1983). Another 26.8 percent of the sample were rural nonfarm households in the country or in small rural communities of 2,500 or fewer persons. A small proportion of the respondents resided in larger communities. Over half of the respondents (58.9%) were female and nearly all were Caucasian (99.2% ). Corresponding with the shifting age distribution in the rural areas of the state, approximately 6 of every ten respondents were aged 45 or older. The high proportion of the elderly in this area of the state is reflected in the sample containing 13.5 percent aged 65 to 74 and 5.8 percent aged 75 and above.