Seven preventive health measures were studied for purposes of determining Ohio rural residents' level of participation; change in participation between 1962 and 1972; participation by farm and rural nonfarm categories; and level of participation by age, sex, educational attainment, and family size. Randomly selected from 10 of Ohio's 88 counties, the sample (2,166 families) was stratified in terms of rural farm and rural nonfarm populations (9.6% of the rural farm population in the sample counties and 1.3% of the total Ohio rural farm population and 1.5% of the rural nonfarm population in the counties and 0.16% of Ohio's total rural nonfarm population). Interviews conducted during 1972 with 4,662 rural and 3,675 rural nonfarm people revealed the following: a 9% increase in physical checkups between 1967 and 1972; a greater correlation between dental care problems and age and sex than other indicators; a 1% increase (1967-72) in dental checkups with only a 56% level of participation during the past 2 years; a 22% level of participation in chest X-rays and a 28% level in tuberculin skin tests during 1972; a 57% level of participation in tetanus shots over the past 10 years; a 14% increase in measles immunizations (1967-72); positive correlations between high educational level and large family size and participation levels with lesser correlations between age, sex, and participation; greater participation levels among rural nonfarm people. (JC)