People who decide or are forced to relocate often undergo a lengthy waiting period before they can move. This waiting period may be a highly stressful time for individuals anticipating relocation. This study explored relocating older adults' (N=63) coping strategies and the impact of these strategies on health, cognitive functioning, and well being. Older adults awaiting relocation to subsidized, age-segregated apartments were interviewed prior to relocation; 54 respondents were interviewed again 9 to 12 months later when approximately one-half of the subjects had moved. Interviews focused on the effects and meaning of the anticipatory period on health, functioning, morale, attitudes, and daily activities. The results support the hypothesis that respondents who appraised relocation as stressful would use different coping strategies than respondents who perceived the experience to be non-stressful. The former subgroup was more likely to use emotion-focused techniques. Among subjects who were still anticipating relocation at the time of the second interview, emotion-focused techniques were used more often than were problem-focused techniques. Relocated and non-relocated subjects did not differ in terms of their use of emotion-focused techniques. Most respondents used multiple techniques to cope with relocation. No one technique was found to be superior to others, or to facilitate higher morale or psychological well-being, although the use of problem-focused strategies was predictive of health and adjustment among the relocated respondents. Subjects appeared to employ complex coping strategies with a high rate of success. (NB)