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Iowa Rural and Urban Parents: Beliefs & Prevention of Violence Efforts
Abstract   Open access   Peer reviewed

Iowa Rural and Urban Parents: Beliefs & Prevention of Violence Efforts

Abby Schueller and Karisa Harland
Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), Vol.37(S2), pp.107-108
10/2026
DOI: 10.1097/01.ede.0001281040.64377.7b
url
https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ede.0001281040.64377.7bView
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

To create effective prevention approaches in rural communities, we must understand violence’s physical, social, and emotional impact. Though reported occurrences of violence provide valuable insights, they often fail to capture the full context of safety and how rural communities undertake the safety of their children. To address this gap, Iowa conducted a statewide survey from 2019 to 2021, focusing on adult perceptions of safety and violence. The primary aim of the survey was to understand how prevention education, in the areas of preventing harm (perpetration) and avoiding harm (victimization), was implemented at the family level. Additionally, researchers conducted stratified analyses by parent-reported gender and residence in rural areas of the state. Among parents completing the survey (N=268), 41.7% were male, 35.7 lived in rural Iowa counties, 88.1% were White, 73.5% married, and 80.7% had some college education. Bullying was the top safety concern for parents (63.3%). When asked about preventative conversations with their children, parents reported they discussed topics of being harmed (85.1%) and causing harm (84.7%). Conversations varied based on the respondent’s gender, rural location, and the violence experienced. Compared to female parents in urban counties, female parents in rural counties had 2.39 (95% CI: 1.04-5.52) times the odds of speaking with a child about causing sexual harm and 2.68 (95% CI: 1.02-7.05) times the odds of having a conversation about being harmed. Male parents in rural counties reported significantly lower odds of talking to their child about preventing sexual assault than female parents in urban counties (OR [95% CI]: 0.25 [0.11-0.84]), but there was no significant difference in conversations about being sexually assaulted. These findings suggest the need for unique prevention education strategies in rural areas around sexual violence and additional research on gender dynamics in family violence education.

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