Comparison of Monolinguals and Bilinguals in Their Ability to Manage Emotion

A bilingual advantage has been found to exist within emotional intelligence (Yow & Markman, 2011; Alqarni & Dewaele, 2018; Taheri et al., 2019; Niedbala, 2021). However, emotional management is an aspect of emotional intelligence that has not been widely studied in relation to bilingualism. Here, we compare English-Spanish bilinguals and English monolinguals in their ability to manage emotion. Two parts of an untimed online survey were administered, consisting of the Situational Test of Emotional Management – Brief (STEM-B) and Language Assessment Scales (LAS). Our goal was to determine whether a bilingual advantage exists within the context of emotional management. The data show that bilinguals significantly outperform monolinguals in managing emotion. Further research should examine the bilingual advantage in emotional intelligence in an effort to understand the structures that subtend the association between language and emotional management.