Abstract: the article presents the points of view of foreign and domestic researchers on the problem of human changes with age as a way of self-realization and adaptation. It also emphasizes the disunity between society and the personality of the individual which occurs as the person ages. Such disunity occurs both at the social level in the form of changing patterns of behavior, social roles, statuses, and at the psychological level in the form of narrowing the range of interests, motivation, and focusing on the inner world. Several groups of elderly people who differ from each other in the acceptance of aging and their readiness to meet old age are under consideration. The concept of “green old age” is revealed, which includes a favorable evaluation of one’s own life in old age, self-satisfaction with the life journey. A theoretical analysis of the vitality of elderly people in a psychological context is carried out. The interconnection of elderly people’s resilience is traced with the social, mental, and physical health as well as with the processes of deadaptation and adaptation in modern society, with the ability to overcome stressful situations, with the ability to apply appropriate coping strategies in time. It is believed that the vitality of an individual is a kind of internal resource that helps an elderly person maintain social, mental, and physical health.
Keywords: elderly person, biological changes, society and individual personality, social characteristics