A method of enhancing one’s pathway through mid to late life phases;
Deeper Dive
The social portfolio consists of an individualized list of vital activities that one can engage in along dimensions of low- and high-mobility and individual or group pursuits. It is based upon what Cohen cites as the reality of active and selective engagement in late life versus stereotypical and inaccurate theories of disengagement. Its creation is an activity that an individual engages in through an active review of one’s lifelong personal assets. Ideally, individuals assemble their portfolios with the participation of others who know them well. The social portfolio is meant to be diversified and include “insurance” in the form of vital activities that can be engaged in even in the face of disability or loss.
The concept was first proposed by Gene D. Cohen, considered one of the founding fathers of geriatric psychiatry, a founder the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, first editor of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and a former acting director of the National Institute on Aging.