부산대학교 도서관

Background: Our purpose in this study was to explore perceived problematic issues of local communities in rural areas and to test the hypothesis that increased perceptions of problematic issues in the community are negatively associated with respondents' general self-rated health (GSRH). Methods: Data used for this paper were drawn from two surveys of persons living in small towns and rural places in Texas. The association of each of the 33 perceived problematic issues with GSRH was assessed using bivariate and multivariate correlation analyses. Results: Results indicated that 88% of the potentially problematic community issues included in this study were negatively and significantly associated with respondents' GSRH at the bivariate level. The overall pattern of associations changed only slightly when the individual-level characteristic variables were controlled. Certain sociodemographic variables (i.e., age, household income, educational attainment, and race) were verified to be significant predictors of GSRH. Conclusions: Similar to results from previous studies conducted in urban settings, our findings from rural and smalltown Texas demonstrate the importance of incorporating individuals' perceptions of problematic community issues in health disparities research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]