The study examined the changes in the quality of life of country families in four eastern Kentucky counties between 1960 and 1973. Since quality of life is an abstract concept, the changes were assessed with respect to income, occupation, and level of living. The aim was to assess the changes in both objective and subjective terms as the families in the country areas of the Cumberland Mountains saw them when surveyed in the late spring and early summer of 1973. Surveys were conducted in 1961 and 1973. In 1961, inter-family differences were examined. Families were classified by family life cycle stage: working age families without children (head under 60 years); families with young children (oldest child under 10); families with adolescent aged children (oldest child 17 or younger); families with mature children at home (oldest child 18 or older); and older families without children (head aged 60 or older). In 1973, 317 families living in the country in the same counties surveyed in 1961, and for the most part in the same sample segments, were surveyed. Some findings were: (1) levels of living as indicated by household possessions improved dramatically in 1973; (2) median family income nearly doubled between 1960 and 1972; and (3) despite the improvement in income and levels of living, mountain families still lagged behind those elsewhere in income, education, and levels of living. (NQ)