Community access and satisfaction: racial differences in later life

Community access can be expected to have an important influence on the life satisfaction of the aged because of age-linked restrictions in social life space. Such access may be less important for older blacks, however, as a consequence of lifelong "ghettoization". These hypotheses are tested using national survey data. Community mobility is found to have a stronger association with life satisfaction for older whites, while having only an indirect effect through social interaction for older blacks. Directions for future research are suggested.