Abstract
The transition to adulthood is characterized by the assumption of adult social roles, which are well documented in the literature; however, rural young adults remain understudied, especially using nationally representative samples. Therefore, this study analyzed a rural subsample of young adults from Add Health (N = 2562, 63.8% white, 34.2% Black, 50% female) using latent profile and latent transition analyses. Latent profiles at the average ages of 21–22 and 28–29 were identified highlighting transitions in education, work, and family formation. Two profiles previously unidentified in the literature emerged, high school graduates living with parents and prolonged transitioners, characterized by living with parents and limited transitions in romantic relationships and parenthood. Rural young people most likely to be in these profiles were male, Black, and from disadvantaged backgrounds. High school graduates living with parents and prolonged transitioners also had high probabilities of living in a rural area late in the transition to adulthood. Female and Black rural young adults had the highest probabilities of transitioning from the high school graduates living with parents profile to the prolonged transitioners profile. These empirically established role transitions and pathways to adulthood in rural communities can help inform investments, policies, and future research to support rural young adults following varying pathways during the transition to adulthood.
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Notes
Asian, Native American, and Hispanic/Latine participant counts and frequencies are not reported in the results due to the small number of participants.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge Jennifer Doty and Jeanne-Marie Stacciarini for providing critical feedback on planning the study and analyses. The authors also acknowledge Katherine Masyn for her assistance analyzing the final conditional LTA models. Add Health is directed by Robert A. Hummer and funded by the National Institute on Aging cooperative agreements U01 AG071448 (Hummer) and U01AG071450 (Aiello and Hummer) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Waves I-V data are from the Add Health Program Project, grant P01 HD31921 (Harris) from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Add Health was designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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M.P.F. was supported by the UF Substance Abuse Training Center in Public Health from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institutes of Health under award number T32DA035167. The content is solely the responsibility of the author(s) and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Data Sharing and DeclarationThe data that support the findings of this study are available from the Carolina Population Center but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. However, data are available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of the Carolina Population Center.
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M.P.F. conceived of the study, designed the study, conducted the analysis, and drafted the manuscript. L.F.F. participated in the design and helped to draft the manuscript. S.D.L. participated in the design, data analysis, and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Fenton, M.P., Forthun, L.F. & Lynne, S.D. Pathways to Adulthood in Rural America: A Latent Profile and Latent Transition Analysis of Adult Social Roles. J Youth Adolescence 52, 1170–1190 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01755-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01755-0