However after analyzing further, they did find that of those in the specific strategy group, participants who had mentioned strategies that involved some form of social engagement, such as "helping others," "spend more time with family," "spend more time with friends," did show a higher level of life satisfaction one year later.
Those who had reported nonsocial strategies on the other hand, such as "stop smoking," showed relatively constant levels.
"Our research showed that people who came up with 'well-being' strategies that involved other people were more satisfied with their lives one year later -- even after taking into account that they were marginally happier to begin with," explains lead author Julia Rohrer.
"In contrast, people who came up with strategies that did not explicitly involve others remained, on average, as satisfied as they were."
Although Rohrer pointed out that pursuing happiness does not mean it is necessarily guaranteed, however the team noted that for those who want to try to increase life satisfaction, spending more time with others could be a more promising and effective way of boosting well-being.
The results were published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.