The relationship between age and residential factors in environmental preference was investigated by measuring the degree to which recently institutionalized elderly adapted to the new environment. Their needs and preferences for environmental qualities of stiumulation, order and privacy were assessed and compared with a matched sample of older adults living in the community, college students, and recently institutionalized adults. Subjects were administered the 30-item Environmental Preferences Questionnaire. Results indicated that all older adults preferred more order, more territoriality, less isolation, less solitude, and less stimulation than did younger respondents. The community older adults expressed greater preference for order, stimulation, territoriality, and solitude than did institutionalized older adults. (Author/HLM)