Blackwell Reference Online

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Rural aging is an area of scholarship focusing on issues affecting quality of life for older persons living in areas of low population density. Rural versus urban (or metropolitan versus non-metropolitan) conceptualizations are rooted in characteristics of folk or traditional societies versus contemporary or urban societies. Elders living in rural areas are portrayed as valuing independence and self-sufficiency, having strong family and religious ties, mistrusting “outsiders,” and giving and receiving help through informal networks of families and neighbors ( Shenk 1998 ; Lawrence & McCulloch 2001 ). Rural areas have significant proportions of elders (14.4 percent compared with 11.5 percent in urban areas). In addition, three trends suggest that this proportion will increase in the future: (1) the overall US population is aging; (2) young adults are migrating from rural areas in search of better economic opportunities; and (3) some rural areas, especially those with recreational amenities and planned retirement communities, are relocation destinations for retirees ( Longino & Haas 1993 ). Rural aging envelops the study of aging within a contextual focus. Increasingly, the diversity found within rural areas is recognized. The experience of aging is also quite different in the more populated rural areas of the East – rural Appalachia or the Mississippi Delta, for example ... log in or subscribe to read full text