Matthew M. Brooks
@ruraldemography.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Sociology at Florida State. Demographer and Rural Sociologist trying to research U.S. rural-urban inequality in poverty, family change, and health.
Want to know why these encouraging but expected trends occurred? Well you can read the full paper here to find out: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
<em>Journal of Marriage and Family</em> | NCFR Family Science Journal | Wiley Online Library
Objective To examine whether family change in rural America is widening the rural–urban child poverty gap and increasing inequalities between children raised in married parent families and those rai...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Want to know why these encouraging but expected trends occurred? Well you can read the full paper here to find out: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Answer #2: When using the Supplemental Poverty Rate, we find that rural child poverty rates have fallen, particularly post 2017. Broadly speaking, this progress on poverty is unexpected since rural kids are increasingly living in nonmarital families, which normally have high risks of poverty.
November 13, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Answer #2: When using the Supplemental Poverty Rate, we find that rural child poverty rates have fallen, particularly post 2017. Broadly speaking, this progress on poverty is unexpected since rural kids are increasingly living in nonmarital families, which normally have high risks of poverty.
Answer #1: Rural kids are increasingly NOT living in married parent families. Instead they are increasingly living with cohabiting parents, never married parents, and with no parents (kinship care). This shift away from married families has happened at much faster pace for rural than urban kids.
November 13, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Answer #1: Rural kids are increasingly NOT living in married parent families. Instead they are increasingly living with cohabiting parents, never married parents, and with no parents (kinship care). This shift away from married families has happened at much faster pace for rural than urban kids.
Taking these things together, one could say that to some extent birth/marriage rates in urban areas are bolstered by rural youth (who have a higher propensity to marry and become parents) moving to cities.
February 12, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Taking these things together, one could say that to some extent birth/marriage rates in urban areas are bolstered by rural youth (who have a higher propensity to marry and become parents) moving to cities.
This tendency to marry early exists beyond any sorting based on SES or childhood environments. We think this reflects rural cultural norms.
This is also true regarding first births but to a lesser extent (rural-urban differences go away when you control for one’s own mother’s age at first birth).
This is also true regarding first births but to a lesser extent (rural-urban differences go away when you control for one’s own mother’s age at first birth).
February 12, 2025 at 7:51 PM
This tendency to marry early exists beyond any sorting based on SES or childhood environments. We think this reflects rural cultural norms.
This is also true regarding first births but to a lesser extent (rural-urban differences go away when you control for one’s own mother’s age at first birth).
This is also true regarding first births but to a lesser extent (rural-urban differences go away when you control for one’s own mother’s age at first birth).
We have another paper that looks into this. Selective rural to urban migration is massive for sure, particularly from age 18-34 and those with college degrees. However, we find that those who move out of rural areas remain similar to those stay in that they tend to marry early.
February 12, 2025 at 7:51 PM
We have another paper that looks into this. Selective rural to urban migration is massive for sure, particularly from age 18-34 and those with college degrees. However, we find that those who move out of rural areas remain similar to those stay in that they tend to marry early.