Human Services News

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

When parents purchase a mobile home near a prosperous small town, they believe they've secured the safety, neighborliness and good schools coveted by all rural residents, says a University of Illinois study published in the April issue of Family Relations.

"Unfortunately, children living in trailer parks have a hard time reaping the benefits of small-town living unless they work exceptionally hard to build bridges to the nearby community," said Katherine MacTavish, now of Oregon State University, and her mentor, U of I professor of community studies Sonya Salamon.

To benefit from supportive small-town resources, a family must be integrated into the town's social networks, they said.

"But townspeople tend to look down on the trailer court kids, calling them 'trailer trash.'

Full-time employment for all adults in these families was the norm, but the jobs offered low wages, few or no benefits, and little job stability or financial security.

Half the mothers experienced the birth of a first child before finishing high school.

Of the 10 teens in the study, two flourished while growing up in the trailer park, following a path that MacTavish and Salamon believed would lead to a better life.

What did it take for the flourishing teenage girls to become upwardly mobile?

To flourish, youth had to become a member of the community outside the trailer park, and both girls developed intense relationships with nearby town friends and mentors.

For Trinity, a straight A student, cheerleader and dance-team member, the shift toward town-centered social ties came in seventh grade.

Trinity too became active in the church and spent a great deal of time with the friend's family, vacationing with them and working summers in the family business.

"Trinity hated riding the school bus," said her mother.

"Trinity's mother knew what it took to get ahead.

Read more from this post.