Age Differences in Older Adults’ Usage of Selection, Optimization, and Compensation: Findings from the SONIC Study

TL;DR

This study explores how older adults use life-management strategies called SOC and finds that their use and impact on well-being change with age.

Contribution

The study reveals how the use and effectiveness of SOC strategies shift from the 70s to the 90s, particularly highlighting changes in the very old.

Findings

The use of elective selection increases with age, while other SOC subfactors decline after the 80s.

SOC subfactors are positively correlated with well-being in the 70s and 80s but less so in the 90s.

Well-being in the 90s depends on more than just SOC strategies.

Abstract

Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) were life-management strategies to maintain well-being against function declines. The number of SOC strategies decreased from middle to old age due to fewer resources. However, little is known about the change in SOC strategy from young-old to very old despite a highly significant resource decrease. This study aimed to clarify the age differences in SOC strategy. Data collected from community-dwelling Japanese people participated in the longitudinal cohort study of Septuagenarians, Octogenarians, and Nonagenarians Investigation with Centenarians (SONIC). The samples were divided into 70s (n = 983, 48.2% male, range:68-72), 80s (n = 957, 47.1% male, range:78-82), and 90s (n = 212, 47.2% male, range:88-92). We conducted multiple group factor analysis using polychoric correlation, ANOVA, and correlation analysis between SOC subfactors, subjective well-being, personality traits, and cognitive function. Model fit indices were adequate to compare scores with three generation cohorts (CFI=.960, TLI=.945, RMSEA=.041, SRMR=.078). Only the use of elective selection was significantly higher with aging, but other subfactors were higher from the 70s to 80s and were lower from the 80s to 90s. The only elective selection was negatively correlated (r =-.09 -.01), and other subfactors were positively correlated (r =.02 .30) with well-being in the 70s and 80s, but the correlation coefficients were weaker in the 90s, respectively (r =-.09 .13). We emphasized that the use and the impact of SOC was maximized until the 80s and changed in the 90s. The key factor of well-being in the 90s was not only the SOC strategy.