Growing Up on an Appalachian Farm

Abstract

Background

Research on centenarians to date has focused on areas with a high population of centenarians. However, there is limited literature on centenarians’ perspectives about growing up on farms from the heartland of Appalachia in Eastern Tennessee.

Purpose

This qualitative descriptive study was designed to characterize the role of a farming childhood by exploring the viewpoints of community-dwelling centenarians who grew up on farms in south central Appalachia.

Methods

A qualitative descriptive design was used with a convenience sample (n = 16). Cognitive status was determined with the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire. Demographic data were collected. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed with the Neuendorf method of content analysis.

Results

Main emerging themes were the farm, the family, and the environment.

Conclusion

The farm was at the center of these centenarians’ childhood, influencing their family, community relations, and social interactions, which provided lessons that they utilized throughout their long lives.

Keywords

centenarians Appalachian farm growing up family support environmental influences

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Appalachian Region Commission. (2010). Economic assessment of Appalachia. Retrieved from https://www.arc.gov/images/programs/ardi/EconomicAssessmentofAppalachiaJune2010.pdf.

Appalachian Region Commission. (2016). The Appalachian region. Retrieved from http://www.arc.gov/appalachian_region/TheAppalachianRegion.asp.

Bauco

Golosio

Cinti

A. M.

Borriello

Raganato

Cicconetti

Marigliano

(1996) Functional status and well-being of centenarians. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 22: 363–366.

Buettner

(2012) The blue zones: 9 lessons for living longer from the people who’ve lived the longest, Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.

Bush, F. C. (1992). Dorie: Woman of the mountains. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press.

Campbell

J. C.

(1921) The southern highlander and his homeland, New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Edwards

G. T.

Asbury

J. A.

Cox

R. L.

(2006) A handbook to Appalachia: An introduction to the region, Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press.

Elam

(2002) Culture, poverty and education in Appalachian Kentucky. Education and Culture 18(1): 10–13.

Gavrilov

L. A.

Gavrilova

N. S.

(2011) Season of birth and exceptional longevity: Comparative study of American centenarians, their siblings, and spouses. Journal of Aging Research 2011: 1–11. doi:10.4061/2011/104616.

10.

Gavrilov

L. A.

Gavrilova

N. S.

(2012) Biodemography of exceptional longevity: Early-life and mid-life predictors of human longevity. Biodemography and Social Biology 58: 14–39.

11.

Gavrilov

L. A.

Gavrilova

N. S.

(2015) Predictors of exceptional longevity: Effects of early-life and midlife conditions, and familial longevity. North American Actuarial Journal 19(3): 174–186.

12.

Infogram. (2016). Family size 1800–1900. Retrieved from https://infogr.am/Family-Size-1800-1900.

13.

Institute of Gerontology. (2016). Georgia centenarian study. Retrieved from https://www.publichealth.uga.edu/geron/research/centenarian-study.

14.

Lachowski

(2013) Health consequences of work in childhood in opinions of respondents from agricultural families. Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine 20(3): 624–630.

15.

Lachowski

Lachowska

(2014) Emotions experienced in association with agricultural work performed in childhood—in opinions of adults. Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine 21(3): 627–633.

16.

Martin, P. (2016). Appalachians. Encyclopedia of world cultures. Retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Appalachian_Mountains.aspx.

17.

Martin

Deshpande-Kamat

Margrett

J. A.

Franke

Garasky

(2012) Exceptional longevity: An introduction to the Iowa centenarian study. International Journal of Aging and Human Development 75(4): 297–316.

18.

Mazzoleni

Cilmi

Fornaro

Truglio

Di Stefano

Savia

Rapisarda

(1996) Functional evaluation of a group of centenarians in Eastern Sicily by means of the activity of daily living scale. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 22(Suppl. 1): 393–398.

19.

Nester

(June 1 2012) Women in the Appalachian home. Smoky Mountain Living. http://www.smliv.com/features/women-in-the-appalachian-home/.

20.

Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

21.

Pfeiffer, E. (1975). A short portable mental status questionnaire for the assessment of organic brain deficit in elderly patients. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 23(10), 433–441.

22.

Pollard, K., & Jacobsen, L. (2011). The Appalachian region in 2010: A census data overview. Retrieved from http://www.arc.gov/assets/research_reports/AppalachianRegion2010CensusReport1.pdf.

23.

Shaw

T. C.

DeYoung

A. J.

Rademacher

E. W.

(2006) Educational attainment in Appalachia: Growing with the nation, but challenges remain. Journal of Appalachian Studies 10(3): 307–329.

24.

Snyder

T. D.

Alexander

Ravitch

Elliott

E. J.

(1993) National center for education statistics: 120 Years of American education: A statistical portrait, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

25.

Stepler, R. (2016). World’s centenarian population projected to grow eightfold by 2050. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/21/worlds-centenarian-population-projected-to-grow-eightfold-by-2050/.

26.

United States Census Bureau (1999) Statistical abstract of the United States: 1999. Section 31: 20th century statistics. Statistical abstracts series, Washington, DC: U. S. Census Bureau.

27.

University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station, Bird, J. J., Bohanan, E. L., & Hale, J. K. (1946). Subsistence on the small farm with special reference to the Cumberland Plateau. Bulletins. Retrieved from http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_agbulletin/132.