Currently the Ministry of Finance is working on the issue of gradual increase of the retirement age, while various specialists are actively discussing the pros and cons of this potential change. The issue of determining the characteristics of the labour force participation of elder people and their participation in society is complex and multifaceted. A retired person’s capability for activity, willingness to get enrolled in society vary considerably depending on health, psychological well-being, self-attitude.

The paper examines one’s self-concept as a generalized set of ideas about their own physical, psychological, social features As a central component of identity and selfregulation of the retired citizens.

The results of the study presented in the paper reveal the retirement age as a period of human ontogenesis, during which their self-concept is undergoing a number of changes. Based on the theoretical analysis and empirical research, the following periods of the individual development at the retirement age is proposed: early retirement, mid retirement, late retirement. Each of the periods is described taking into account age peculiarities of self-awareness and the self-concept. The paper shows the crisis nature of the self-concept development in people of the retirement age. It also highlights normative age-graded crises: the retirement crisis, the crisis of self-sufficiency, the crisis of integrity. The paper also highlights gender-specific features of the self-concept in retired citizens.

The study was conducted using a sample of 120 unemployed pensioners from the cities Yekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk Oblast (Sverdlovsk region), Russia. To study the features of the self-concept of the retired citizens the following methods were used: «Who am I?» (M. Kun) for studying the content of the self-concept, the self-relation test (V. V. Stolin, S. R. Pantileev) for analysinge self-attitude of the retired citizens, the technique of personal differential for studying self-attractiveness, strength and activity of the retired citizens.