ABSTRACT
Researchers have treated poor geographic areas as monolithic instead of as heterogeneous entities. Poverty areas vary at least in terms of the extent and duration of poverty, and perhaps will thus have different impacts on elderly behavior and subjective well-being. The purpose of this study is to identify how urban poverty environments, associated negative social conditions, and characteristics of elder vulnerability affect elderly residential satisfaction and subjective well-being (SWB). The interaction component of the model is the potential buffering effect of specific personal characteristics of vulnerability on the relationship between perceptions of the suprapersonal environment and subjective well-being. A major contribution of this study to the gerontological literature is its linking of macro (environment) and micro (individual) levels of social scientific theory and analysis. Of added significance is the study's use of commensurate perceived versus objective measures of suprapersonal environment characteristics.
