Managing daily happiness: The relationship between selection, optimization, and compensation strategies and well-being in adulthood.

Past work on selective optimization and compensation (SOC) has focused on between-persons differences and its relationship with global well-being. However, less work examines within-person SOC variation. This study examined whether variation over 7 days in everyday SOC was associated with happiness in a sample of 145 adults ages 22-94. Age differences in this relationship, the moderating effects of health, and lagged effects were also examined. On days in which middle-age and older adults and individuals with lower health used more SOC, they also reported greater happiness. Lagged effects indicated lower happiness led to greater subsequent SOC usage. (PsycINFO Database Record