Short and Long-Term Change in Selective Optimization with Compensation Strategies and the Relationship to Well Being and Stress in Adulthood

Optimal aging may depend on the use of effective resource management strategies as individuals age. Past research has examined the relationship between usage of selection, optimization and compensation (SOC) strategies and well-being across adulthood. However, the extent to which SOC use changes over time within persons is unclear, and it is less clear how within-person change in SOC usage is connected to well-being as individuals age. Determining whether SOC usage varies over time, and whether fluctuations are connected to well-being within-persons, can better show how SOC usage connects to optimal aging.;This project examined long and short-term SOC change within persons, and how SOC changes were related to well-being across adulthood. Study 1 investigated long-term change in SOC and well-being related outcomes over 20 years in adults aged 20- 74. Results of Study 1 suggested that SOC usage was stable in younger adulthood and then declined in later adulthood; evidence was found for a relationship between SOC change and well-being for middle aged adults, and stress and SOC for younger adults, over ten years. Study 2 examined short-term change in SOC, and cross-lagged effects of SOC usage and happiness, over 7 days in adults aged 22- 94. Results of Study 2 suggested that individuals fluctuated in their daily SOC usage; on days in which individuals used SOC they reported higher happiness. Moreover, when they reported lower happiness, they reported higher SOC usage the next day. Study 3 examined whether focus on SOC strategies could be manipulated in the short term via a writing task. The effects of this manipulation on valenced information recall and positive affect in a decision task were examined in younger and older adults. Although Study 3's SOC manipulation did not affect focus on strategies, positive affect, or the type of information recalled after making a decision, results suggested that older adults recalled more negative information after a decision-making task.;The results overall demonstrate that SOC usage fluctuates within individuals on both a long and short-term basis across adulthood, and suggest that SOC strategy usage is increased when well-being is relatively low. These findings show that SOC is a strategy that can be adopted to improve well-being in adulthood, and they provide a basis for developing future SOC interventions.