Stressors created by social change were studied in the Appalachian community of Blue Ridge, West Virginia. Data were gathered through open-ended interviews of community informants. Informants invariably described 3 distinct ways of life; data analysis therefore provided for the possibility of different crises in each stratum. Interview topics covered sources of change, family life, jobs, education, family status, and religion. The information was analyzed using a model of structural differentiation containing the following steps: dissatisfaction or threat to goal achievement, symptoms of disturbance, attempts to solve problems through the existing system, encouragement of new ideas, positive attempts to specify a process, implementation of new ways of doing things, and development of performance patterns. Major suggestions for further research indicated the need for studies of: mental disorders and maladaptive behavior in the community; well and sick families as defined by the extent of social and medical health; crises and problem solving in the religious life of the community; and the socialization process. (PS)