The Technical Committee for NC-90, sponsored by the Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Stations of 13 states (Alaska, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin) and in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has compiled a basebook which identifies patterns of living among relatively disadvantaged families and determines factors significantly associated with these patterns of living for purposes of definition and measurement applicable to descriptive interpretation and intensive analysis related to selective aspects of family disadvantagement. This basebook provides an overview of findings from 2,650 rural and urban families in selected areas of the 13 cooperating states, including detailed information of six types: (1) conceptual background and objectives of the project; (2) committee organization and procedures; (3) percentage distributions and descriptive interpretations of family characteristics within each of the samples selected by the cooperating states; (4) similarities and differences in family characteristics within the selected area samples from the states, and among samples of rural, urban, and special types of populations; (5) family attributes associated significantly with an index of income adequacy; and (6) recommendations for further study of data. Examination of numerous family characteristics revealed extensive differences in family life situations. (JC)