The primary purposes of this study, stemming from Southern Regional Research Project S-44, were (a) to determine if there are any differences in adjustment factors of rural families in low-income areas within the South and (b) to indicate the manner in which the areas are distinctive from one another. The underlying theoretical framework was that adjustment is basically a specific process of social mobility in which a family moves from one level of adjustment to another, with the potentials it possesses, towards the achievement of goals of the family system. A sample of 1,870 was obtained from the open-country portion of 30 low-level-of-living and low-income counties in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. The results supported the hypotheses and identified differences in the 5 subregions, or generalized low-income areas: Appalachian Mountains and Border, Mississippi Delta, Sandy Coastal Plains, Southeastern Hilly, and Southern Piedmont and Coastal Plains. (DK)