Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Aug 14;15(8):e0237578. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237578. eCollection 2020.
Although rurality is often treated as an aspect of diversity, researchers disagree regarding whether the traditional rural values of self-reliance, distrust of outsiders, religiosity, centrality of family, and fatalism continue to differentiate rural versus urban undergraduates. The present study examined 1) whether differences in these values exist between rural and urban college students in the United States and 2) whether these rural values might mediate the association between geographic remoteness and posttraumatic stress symptom (PTSS) severity. College undergraduates in the United States who reported experiencing traumatic and/or stressful events (N = 213) completed measures of these constructs through an online survey. T-test results indicated that rural respondents had significantly higher levels of PTSS severity and distrust of outsiders and significantly lower levels of religiosity when compared with urban participants. After controlling for gender, distrust of outsiders and religiosity also emerged as significant mediators of the relationship between geographic remoteness and PTSS severity. Thus, despite research that highlights differences based on geographic location, similarities and differences exist for rural and urban undergraduates in the United States with regard to traditionally rural values. For rural undergraduate clients presenting with trauma symptoms, our results suggest that building trust and religious and/or spiritual self-care may be particularly critical.
尽管农村地区通常被视为多样性的一个方面，但研究人员对于传统的农村价值观（自力更生、不信任外来者、宗教信仰、家庭中心和宿命论）是否仍然能够区分农村和城市大学生存在分歧。本研究考察了 1）在美国，农村和城市大学生是否存在这些价值观的差异，以及 2）这些农村价值观是否可能在地理偏远程度和创伤后应激症状（PTSS）严重程度之间的关联中起中介作用。通过在线调查，报告经历过创伤和/或压力事件的美国大学生（N=213）完成了这些结构的测量。T 检验结果表明，与城市参与者相比，农村受访者的 PTSD 严重程度、对外来者的不信任程度显著更高，宗教信仰程度显著更低。在控制了性别因素后，对外来者的不信任和宗教信仰也成为地理偏远程度和 PTSD 严重程度之间关系的显著中介因素。因此，尽管有研究强调了基于地理位置的差异，但在美国，农村和城市大学生在传统的农村价值观方面存在相似之处和差异。对于出现创伤症状的农村本科客户，我们的研究结果表明，建立信任以及宗教和/或精神上的自我保健可能尤为关键。
