Post-print manuscript: College Students in the Western World are Becoming Less Emotionally Intelligent: A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis of Trait Emotional Intelligence

Objective: Over the last two decades, Western society has undergone a marked cultural transformation characterised by rising individualism. Concurrently, the digital landscape has transformed through the rise of social media and smartphones. These factors have previously been implicated in changing individuals’ attitudes, behaviour and interpersonal interactions. We investigated whether these societal changes have coincided with changes in trait emotional intelligence (EI) over the last 17 years in Western university students. Method: We examined this question using a cross-temporal meta-analysis (k = 70; N = 16,917). Results: There was no change in overall trait EI; however, the trait EI domains “wellbeing,” “self-control” and “emotionality” demonstrated significant decreases with time, after controlling for gender composition and between-country differences. Conclusion: We discuss these findings in relation to how they contribute to our understanding of trait EI, and how they add to the literature on how Western society is changing with time.