Z.V. Boyko - Pd.D. (Psych.), Associate Professor, Department Management of Nursing Activities, Peoples Friendship University of Russia, Moscow. E-mail: boikozv@yandex.ru

The problem of aging and attitudes to the elderly is considered in the article. Theories of aging and various types of old age are analyzed. Medico-biological and socio-psychological stats of aging process are examined. People were interested in the problem of ageing throughout the history of mankind. Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Bacon and others wrote about aging, old age and longevity. As a result of growth of average life expectancy in the twentieth century and the emergence of the problem of population ageing in developed countries study of social adaptation of the elderly into society after retirement became actuality. From the point of view of the representatives of biomedical approaches to the problem of aging, aging is considered an irreversible process. In the framework of socio-psychological approaches different ways of adaptation to the aging process are offers.