The purpose of this study was to examine conjugal decision-making and decision-implementation in nonmetropolitan and metropolitan samples of low-income blacks and to explore variables which may be related to the observed decision-making structures. The nonmetropolitan sample was drawn from 2 rural villages and a small town in East Texas. The metropolitan sample consisted of residents of an economically disadvantaged area of Houston, Texas. The total sample numbered 52 villagers, 207 town and 294 metropolitan black homemakers. All respondents were interviewed by black female adults who had been trained by the researchers in interviewing procedure. Major areas studied included role patterning, composite power configurations, and interaction patterns. The findings suggested that the matriarchal family structure is far from pervasive among low-income black families and that the husband seems to play a much larger role in family decision-making and decision-implementation than expected. (PS)