Social Planning
Seniors who fill up their calendars with a variety of activities are more likely to relish retirement
I n his three decades of interviewing and studying older Americans, Gene Cohen, a psychiatrist and gerontologist who heads George Washington University's Center on Aging, Health, and Humanities in Washington, D.C., and author of the book The Creative Age, has found that retirement can be liberating and empowering. He talked with U.S. News & World Report Senior Writer Kim Clark about why Americans should take steps to make sure they enjoy their post-career years.
What mistakes do people make?
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Fewer than 10 percent had any preparation for how they would spend their time. That was amazing. Almost everybody who was retired said they would have loved to have formally explored what they would actually do in retirement. Half the people were very satisfied with retirement. But half were not. There are those who flounder and are not happy. And then there are those who are so conscientious they fill up their time with a lot of stuff that is lousy and hard to leave because they are so conscientious. Suddenly their time is filled. But they have lost their flexibility, and they've gotten involved with things where they really don't have a chance to challenge themselves and develop a sense of mastery. This is very important. People want something meaningful and satisfying, not some mindless type of thing, such as putting stamps on envelopes. Better planning would have helped.
So you developed a social plan along the lines of a financial plan?
Right. I tried to build upon something that was familiar to people. You have a financial portfolio. Why don't you have a social portfolio? You want to build up as many assets as you can. In your social portfolio, the assets are your activities and relationships. You want to diversify, and you want to prepare for a rainy day. You want group activities and individual activities. You want high-mobility activities and low-mobility activities. This way, if something happens to your mobility, you have backup low-mobility activities to draw upon.
Why are group activities so important?
You need to meet people over time and have a chance at relationship building. If you lose a spouse or a close friend moves, you have backup activities and relationships that help you deal with the loss.
What kind of activities are best?
Learning a new language, learning a new hobby. For example, I interviewed a 94-year-old woman. She had signed up for singing lessons at a community-based art program. She hadn't sung before. She said, "I can't believe I can sing. Every time I go I can read music better." After the first year of our study, the group (with an average age of 80) in the art programs reported increased health. Those in the control group (who didn't go to art classes) reported declining health. By the end of the year, those in the art programs ended up having more activities than at the start. Those who weren't had a reduction, which is what you would expect. Where you have a sense of control and mastery, you have positive health outcomes. Where you have meaningful social interactions, that, too, is associated with positive outcomes. They would go to these art classes weekly, and it was like getting a booster shot.
This advice seems like something that would be good for people of any age.
It really applies at any stage but more so in later life. I broke my femur last August and had to have the operation done twice. I have just been off my cane and crutches for a week. If everything that I did was skiing or running, I would be in a bad mood. [Cohen's own low-mobility activities include inventing games and writing science fiction.] It is just like a financial portfolio. You should start as early as you can, but it is never too late. Just like financial planning businesses, it would be great to see social planners.
To-Do List
Diversified social assets--your activities and relationships--are key to a successful retirement:
HIGH-MOBILITY
Group: Participating in a theater troupe; educational travel; volunteering
Individual: Gardening; nature photography
LOW-MOBILITY
Group: Hosting a book club; creating a family newspaper with grandchildren
Individual: Researching a family tree; E-mailing family members
This story appears in the June 13, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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