Many rural communities throughout the United States have experienced brain drain or the out-migration of educated young people. Explanations for why college-educated adults leave rural communities have relied on economic rationales; however, the effects of social identities, community context, and place attachment have also been shown to influence migration decisions. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), this study examines factors experienced during adolescence as well as postsecondary characteristics that promote college graduates' return to their rural communities when they are between the ages of 34 and 43. We find that among college graduates who had attended a rural public K-12 school, those who had higher levels of school attachment were significantly more likely to return home compared with graduates who had lower levels of school attachment. The findings also suggest that graduates who came from a lower college-educated community were more likely to return home than those from average or highly college-educated communities. By analyzing long-term outcomes, this study extends our understanding of the strengths of adolescent experiences and neighborhood context influencing the pull to return home and the support for policies strengthening rural communities as there may be long-term effects to returning home, even if youth leave for college.

中文翻译：

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农村大学毕业生：谁回家了？*

美国许多农村社区都经历了人才流失或受过教育的年轻人外流的情况。对于受过大学教育的成年人为何离开农村社区的解释依赖于经济理由。然而，社会身份、社区背景和地方依恋的影响也被证明会影响移民决定。本研究利用国家青少年至成人健康纵向研究 (Add Health) 的数据，探讨了青春期经历的因素以及促进大学毕业生在 34 岁至 43 岁之间返回农村社区的高等教育特征。我们发现，在就读于农村公立 K-12 学校的大学毕业生中，与学校依恋程度较低的毕业生相比，学校依恋程度较高的毕业生回家的可能性明显更大。研究结果还表明，来自大学教育程度较低社区的毕业生比来自普通或高等教育社区的毕业生更有可能返回家乡。通过分析长期结果，本研究加深了我们对青少年经历和邻里环境影响返乡意愿的优势的理解，以及对加强农村社区的政策支持的理解，因为返乡可能会产生长期影响，即使青少年去上大学。