Residence, the Elderly-Widow, and Life Satisfaction

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Abstract
The responses of 1400 systematically selected elderly to a needs assessment survey in a four-county area in northwestern New England suggest that urban and rural widows are almost equally disadvantaged in objective ways but, subjectively, urban widows perceive themselves to be considerably more disadvantaged than rural widows. Moreover, the more urban the residence of the widow living alone, the lower her life satisfaction. Finally, all rural widows and urban widows living with children have higher life satisfaction than do urban widows living alone.