A review of pertinent research on the adaptation of ethnic minority elderly to life-threatening events (personal, man-made, or natural) exposes voids in the research, presents methodological considerations, and indicates that ethnic minority elderly are disproportionately victimized by life-threatening events. Unusually high numbers of fatalities/injuries are found among the aged and minorities after natural disasters. This fact may be partially attributed to physiological deficiencies, sociocultural factors, and/or economic circumstances of the elderly and minorities. However, there is conflicting evidence regarding the psychological impact of disasters on the elderly, therefore other mitigating variables need to be explored before age differences in emotional adaptation can be more fully understood. In addition to natural disasters, life-threatening events may take the form of illness or injury of self or loved one, war, vehicular accidents, explosions, collapse of buildings. This research review manifests some methodological concerns (issues of cultural encapsulation, culturally sensitive classifications, the influence of folk beliefs on decision-making, and appropriateness of survey instruments/ items/scaling procedures) and underscores the need for future studies of the aging process, ethnicity, and adaptation to the stresses in life. (AN)