A study of mental health administrators and systems utilizing a four-part rural/urban taxonomy.

A study of administrators working in public-sector community-level mental health systems was undertaken. Three hundred and fourteen managers representing 109 systems in both urban and rural settings were interviewed, with 91 percent providing completed questionnaires. Multiple discriminant analyses indicated significant differences in perception of ruralness; personal, job, and system characteristics; and nonwork dimensions. Administrators differed in what they did on the job, not in responses (e.g., turnover, stress) to their work. The rural manager seems more a generalist, but other stereotypes of the nature of rural mental health management and managers were contraindicated. Implications of the data and further research are discussed.