PREVIOUS THEORIES OF THE AGING PROCESS HAVE DERIVED BEHAVIOR AS NECESSARY FUNCTIONS OF SOCIAL OR INDIVIDUAL VARIABLES. AN INTERMEDIATE THEORY, PERSONAL ORIENTATION, ALLOWS THE INDIVIDUAL THE POSSIBILITY OF CHOICE WITHIN HIS CAPACITIES AND SOCIAL SITUATION. THIS THEORY IS BASED ON A DISENGAGEMENT THEORY OF AGING THAT SUGGESTS THAT A PERSON WITHDRAWS SOCIALLY AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY FROM HIS ENVIRONMENT AND THAT THESE PROCESSES ARE INTRINSICALLY DETERMINED. THE PRESENT THEORY CONSIDERS THE INDIVIDUAL'S AWARENESS OF HIS PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL WORLD AND THE RESTRICTION OF LIFE SPACE AND EMOTIONAL DECLINE AS TWO BASICALLY INDEPENDENT PROCESSES OCCURRING OVER THE SAME SPAN OF TIME. SECCESSFUL DISENGAGEMENT IS NOT INTRINSICALLY NECESSARY, BUT AN EQUILIBRIUM CONDITION THAT MOST OF THE POPULATION REACHES. PREVIOUS THEORIES HAVE OVEREMPHASIZED PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS OF AGING. A METHOD OF SECONDARY ANALYSIS OF SURVEY DATA WILL BE USED FOR EXPLORING THE PROCESSES OF AGING. THIS DOCUMENT IS CHAPTER 18 IN SOCIAL ASPECTS OF AGING, EDITED BY IDA H. SIMPSON AND JOHN C. MCKINNEY, WHICH IS AVAILABLE FROM DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS, DURHAM, N.C. (PT)