The old saying "the older, the wiser" has been recently found without scientific background.

While some aspects of the emotional intelligence (EQ) develop with age, others seem not to be age-related. In fact, research found that many younger people can be more emotionally intelligent than their older counterparts and some aspects of the EQ develop only by training.

The link between the emotional intelligence and age has proven to be quite slight by the Six Seconds' Emotional Intelligence Assessment (SEI), a study made on 405 American subjects. Are older people more self aware, better at self management, and/or do they make more principled decisions? "The finding suggests emotional intelligence is a developing ability; it is likely that accumulated life experiences contribute to EQ", said lead-researcher Lorenzo Fariselli of Six Seconds Italia.

In times when emotional intelligence is a critical factor for the success, this discovery reveals that young people committed to their own development possess great chances to succeed. Three sides of the EQ were investigated: Self-awareness, self-management, and self-direction.

Self-awareness ("Know Yourself") increased slightly with age. "We hypothesize that as people grow they have more opportunity to learn about emotions and the gradations of emotions, increase emotional vocabulary, and experience more and more varied life situations. Perhaps they accumulate more feedback and integrate this into greater self-awareness", said Fariselli.

Age has proven only mildly predictive for self-awareness: many younger people had a high self-awareness and many older people have not developed this ability. Self-management ("Choose Yourself"), does not present a development with the age. This ability (Navigate Emotions, Exercise Optimism, Engage Intrinsic Motivation and Apply Consequential Thinking) needs special training to be improved and it will not "automatically" develop through life experiences.

Self-direction ("Give Yourself") was the most age-related ability (3.9% of its development). The two main skills of this ability refer to Empathy (observing and properly responding to other people's feelings) and Pursue Noble Goals (using principles and values to drive behaviors).

This could come from the responsibilities of adulthood, which come with the age. "For many people, adulthood and aging introduce increased need and opportunity to connect with and lead others -- for example engaging a team or developing an organization's vision. As people age they have more opportunities to practice these skills", said Massimiliano Ghini, President of Six Seconds Italia.

But even this link between age and Give Yourself is low, thus age is no guarantee for vision and wisdom.