Widowhood may pose a threat to the adjustment and life satisfaction of older women. In order to examine the relationship between life satisfaction of elderly widowed black women and their involvement in formal and informal support systems, 65 women ranging in age from 64 to 92, were asked 326 questions by trained black interviewers. Interviewers also prepared an extensive narrative report on each interviewee. Subjects were selected from the Philadelphia site of a national survey previously conducted by the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for the Aged, funded by the Administration on Aging, and entitled "A Study of the Informal Support Networks of the Needy Elderly." A series of scales was used for instrumentation, including the CARES Future Scale, the Zung Agitation Scale, and the Rosow Functional Health, CARES Loneliness, and Goldfarb Mental Health Status Scales. Examination of the data on the widows' ages, occupations, education, income, children, years widowed, health status, and social networks, showed that income, attitude toward present living situation, perceived health status, and presence of a confidante were the best predictors of life satisfaction in this group. Interaction with children had a limited relationship to life satisfaction. Future research should be aimed at clarification of the concept of life satisfaction, which was difficult to define and operationalize. (BH)