South Central Veterans Healthcare System

The increasing older adult population has implications for the training and practice of counseling psychologists because of the field’s avowed dedication to lifespan develop-ment. The present study examined the degree to which older adults were represented in articles in the Journal of Counseling Psychology andThe Counseling Psychologist from 1991 to 2000. Several issues were examined: age-based characteristics of samples reported, changes in these characteristics over time, whether articles includingmultiple studies involved older participants, and degree of attention to older adults in theoretical articles. Results are discussed in context of the traditional definition of counseling psy-chology, what counseling psychologists have to offer older adults, and the implications for the training of counseling psychologists with expertise in older adult issues. As we enter the 21st century, understanding the personal and socio-political effects of an aging population is one of themost daunting challenges confronting us. Although 4%of theU.S. population was over the age of 65 in 1900, that figure increased to approximately 13 % in 2000 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000a). By 2030, it is projected that 20 % of the population will b