Retirement is an area that has increasingly come into the spotlight. As a natural outcome of both the babyboom and subsequent babybust, large numbers of people are now approaching retirement age. Although much has been done to study retirement it is still a relatively new phenomenon. The elderly have changed significantly during the course of retirement's development, it is difficult to ascertain whether the knowledge that does exist in relation to retirement is generalizable outside the cohorts studied, and retirement itself is constantly changing due to social and political influences (McDonald & Wanner, 1990; Roadburg, 1985; Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 1994). These issues will be explored. Continued study is required in all of these areas to determine if previous findings remain applicable over time, to explore the influence changes have had on retirement (if any) and to aide in developing policies and procedures to make the transition to retirement a smooth one. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)