Jaya, S2017-01-232017-01-232011https://ir.avinuty.ac.in/handle/avu/1076Ageing is a complex plienomenon accompanied by physiological, psychological and soiuid changes which often results in a decline in health status (Hemalatha, 1999), Ageing is a continuous process that begins with conception and ends with death. Ageing is not a disease but a biological process (Henry, 2000). Ageing is a gradual developmental process of biological, psychological, sociological and behavioural change that begins at the moment when an individual is born (Chandrasekhar and Rhooma. 1999). Ageing refers to the nomial piugtessive and irreversible biological changes occurring in an individual’s life span (Nalarajan. 1998). In spite of all efforts taken by the govemment and other agencies, the feeling of neglect and the condition of being abandoned are indeed leading to stress in the elderly population. Tliis study was caiTied out using a sample of 307 elderly from old age homes and free living elderly from selected areas of Ernakulam district of Kerala. The tool used for the study consisted of a questionnaire prepared by the investigator and a standardized stress inventoi^. The study revealed that institutionalized elderly experienced high levels of stress in total than the free living elderlv.