The research reported here examines residence differences (metropolitan ghetto, non metropolitan, or rural) in characteristics purportedly associated with poverty among poor, black Americans--and particularly in family relationships and interaction. Samples, drawn from the eastern part of Texas, were restricted to families with children still in the home. Residence differences were searched for in education and occupations, aspects of family structure and interaction, interaction of the homemakers and husbands with persons and groups outside of their nuclear families, and aspirations and expectations of the black homemakers. Highlights of the findings of the study, as stated, include the following: (1) stable and healthy family relationships, as reflected by the variables of father-absence, the husband-father role in the family, family cohesiveness and marital satisfaction may be more difficult to maintain by poor blacks of metropolitan ghettos than nonmetropolitan areas; (2) future orientations appear more prohibitive of intra-generational mobility among nonmetropolitan than metropolitan poor blacks; and, (3) nonmetropolitan poor blacks might be more handicapped than metropolitan poor blacks by demands of kin relationships, larger families, the nature of their child-rearing practices, and their goals for their children. (Author/JM)