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Show First in a Series of Articles Related to: "A Study of Stress in Park City, Utah-A Community Impacted by Recreational Pevelopment". By: Marion P. Ayers DSW Behavioral scientists have recently begun to study the social consequences of rapid growth and development which has become a serious matter for Utah residents to contend particularly in view of the steady stream of newcomers pouring into Summit and Wasatch Counties Count-ies for development of recreation and energy resources. re-sources. The State of Utah is dramatically affected by rapid ra-pid population growth with the 1980 census figures showing Utah to be the 6th fastest growing state in the nation during the next decade. The population of the state is projected to increase from 1.42 million in 1980 to 2.27 by the year 2000, representing a significant signifi-cant increase of 60 percent. Current estimates project Summit County's population will increase from 9,300 in 1980 to 13,400 in the year 2000. The same- report indicates Wasatch County will grow from 8,100 in 1980 to 12,350 in 2000. The development of recreation recre-ation or tourism, (such as that which has occurred in Park City), is another area of impact which occurs due to the development of ski resorts, gaming facilities, amusement parks, and other leisure activities. This area of research has been largely ignored until the present major study of Park City was completed by the author in 1982. A study completed in Gillette, Wyoming by a mental health worker described des-cribed the problems resulting result-ing from energy-related impact im-pact on the community as the "Gillette Syndrome." The syndrome included the three A's of alcoholism, absenteeism absentee-ism and adultery; and the three D's of divorce, delinquency, de-linquency, and depression. Another study identified the most common problems of residents in impacted communities as inadequate housing, traffic, lack of medical care, congestion and crowding, cost of living and poor roads. Researchers interviewing longtime residents of three communities, found them as viewing the post-boom communities com-munities as less relaxed, friendly, traditional, isolated isolat-ed harmonious and rundown; and as more expensive, difficult, progressive and competitive after or during the boom period. In Northwestern Wyoming, Wyom-ing, in a study of an energy boom community, it was concluded that rapid growth creates significant social change which is stressful for the longtime resident as well as the newcomer. One researcher described the difficulties encountered in boom communities, regardless re-gardless of the type of development, as dismal conditions con-ditions which are consistent in being "unplanned development." devel-opment." Social consequences conse-quences such as mental depression, family disorganization, disorgan-ization, emotional damage, alcoholism, delinquency, and dissipation were found. A number of writers report that rapid rates of growth result in a degraded quality of life in boomtowns with the very rapid change coupled with extremely rapid growth stressing people's various support systems. Suspiciousness, Suspi-ciousness, alienation and mental health problems are reported as common. One study concluded that boomtowns breed conditions which make child abuse and neglect more likely to occur. The authors of the study believed that many of the stress factors present in child abuse and neglect occur in impact communities. Rapidly growing towns are seen as sites of intense, rapid change offering few supports to mitigate the effects of resultant stresses. The Denver Den-ver Research Institute offers statistics which concur with these conclusions, reporting M I J' J j ''K ; - " 1 f "Zl'pT f I " ' ;', i , - 1 I 1 , ,- y v; II V j ;:' " ' i f' H! H ' w A4 t ' ' I 111 ;- - 1N m I'M?-- V 1 I 'i 1 "'M!tJ& t?f j. ,., f ,, y I - I 4 V'' ' I S', , I' I , , ,, AAm'Mmdmnu I a do! o increase in tamiiy disturbances in impact communities. com-munities. Not all studies focus upon the negative aspects of rapid growth. In some rural areas the positive effects have been found to improve the quality of life offering a more diversified economy, improvements im-provements in cultural life, schools, churches, stores, higher land values, and the stabilization of the popula- Dr. Marion Ayers explains the importance of stress. I normlessness. This occurs as the community undergoes the changes from a unified value system, face to face interactions and a homogeneous homogen-eous lifestyle to a system based on interdependencies and increased individual autonomy. The urbanization theory sets forth that the more diverse population or heterogeneous community in rapidly growing areas breaks down rigid social structures producing an increase in mobility, instability, and insecurity. A theory of social drift is also a 5ossibility, explaining the increase in social disintegration as due to high stress persons being drawn to the excitement of environments experiencing boom growth. In boom communities we find both longtime residents and newcomers responding to loss-commonly mourning for their old community, their place in it, old friends, families, and familiar landscapes. land-scapes. Social change inevitably inev-itably involves a giving up of familiar ways of doing things, with those affected forced to adapt and cope in new and different way. More needs to be known about people's cumulative reactions to stress under impact conditions. Many of the classical growth problems prob-lems communities have been confronted with in the past will, in the next 20 years likely emerge in large numbers in Utah's rural area requiring new preventive measures and creative problem prob-lem solving. -u,,, X .. tion. In a study of the pipeline in Alaska, it was concluded that maintaining the population, popula-tion, beyond the "carrying capacity" of. some of Fair-bank's Fair-bank's resources resulted in psychological disintegration of only those who were least stable prior to pipeline construction. The researcher, research-er, however, did cite increases in-creases of new clients admitted to the Fairbanks Community Mental Health Center of 40 to 50 during the pipeline period compared to the period before construction con-struction began. While studies of energy development have, for the most part, found a disproportionate dis-proportionate increase in mental health cases and in caseloads of social service agencies when communities grow at rates beyond 10 per year, it does not follow that the same would necessarily nec-essarily be true for a community impacted by recreational rec-reational development. Comparing Com-paring the post-boom era with the pre-boom era in Park City is impossible due to records being unavailable thus eliminating the possibility possibil-ity of using social indicators as a measure of stress. THEORIES RELATED TO RAPID GROWTH AND SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES. The theory of anomie refers to the disintegration of social relationships during periods of societal transition, I creating a condition of |