Subjective career success and emotional well-being: Longitudinal predictive power of selection, optimization, and compensation

In a 3-year longitudinal study, we found in a sample of young professionals (N = 82 44%, male age range: 28 to 39 years) that self-reported behaviors reflecting selection, optimization. and compensation (SOC) predicted global and work-specific subjective wellbeing (multiple correlations ranged from R = .22 to R = .44). In addition to optimization (i.e., implementing goal-relevant means), it was especially the degree of compensation (i.e., investing goal-relevant means to counteract losses) that predicted how emotionally balanced individuals felt and how satisfied they were with their work situation 3 years later. These longitudinal predictions were quite robust when controlling for personality variables (NEO). Results are consistent with previous cross-sectional findings and demonstrate how the SOC framework might be Successfully applied to the domain of vocational behavior. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).