Cao Xiaojun, Chen Jiaojiao
College of Psychology, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, China.
Sichuan Key Laboratory of Discipline Inspection and Supervision Psychology and Behavior, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, China.
J Youth Adolesc. 2025 Mar;54(3):607-624. doi: 10.1007/s10964-024-02062-y. Epub 2024 Aug 28.
Emotional intelligence and prosocial behavior both play an important role in the development of children and adolescents. However, the strength of the association between emotional intelligence and prosocial behavior in children and adolescents is controversial. Hence, this study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate the exact association between emotional intelligence and prosocial behavior in children and adolescents. Through a literature search, a total of 40 studies and 40 effect sizes were included in this meta-analysis (n = 20621). In this study, the main effect test shows that there is a significant positive correlation between emotional intelligence and prosocial behavior in children and adolescents (r = 0.43). Moreover, the present study found a significant moderating effect of age. More specifically, the association between early childhood (0-6 years) emotional intelligence and prosocial behavior is stronger than in middle childhood (7-12 years) and adolescence (13-18 years), and the correlation between emotional intelligence and prosocial behavior is stronger in boys than in girls. The culture was also found to be an important moderator, the association was found to be weaker for Western culture than for Eastern culture. Finally, a stronger correlation between the two variables was found when the emotional intelligence measurement tool was LZ (Emotional intelligence questionnaire compiled by Liu Yan and Zou Hong). These results indicated that improving children's and adolescents' emotional intelligence could be an important strategy to enhance children's prosocial behavior.
情商和亲社会行为在儿童和青少年的发展中都起着重要作用。然而，儿童和青少年情商与亲社会行为之间关联的强度存在争议。因此，本研究旨在进行一项荟萃分析，以评估儿童和青少年情商与亲社会行为之间的确切关联。通过文献检索，本荟萃分析共纳入40项研究和40个效应量（n = 20621）。在本研究中，主效应检验表明，儿童和青少年的情商与亲社会行为之间存在显著正相关（r = 0.43）。此外，本研究发现年龄存在显著的调节效应。更具体地说，幼儿期（0 - 6岁）情商与亲社会行为之间的关联比童年中期（7 - 12岁）和青少年期（13 - 18岁）更强，且男孩情商与亲社会行为之间的相关性比女孩更强。还发现文化是一个重要的调节因素，西方文化中的关联比东方文化中的更弱。最后，当情商测量工具为LZ（刘燕和邹泓编制的情商量表）时，发现这两个变量之间的相关性更强。这些结果表明，提高儿童和青少年的情商可能是增强儿童亲社会行为的一项重要策略。
