773,714-Person Global Analysis Finds Stable Prosocial Personality Core Despite Generation Z Shifts in Social Traits

The arXiv preprint applies hierarchical APC modeling to separate universal aging effects from calendar-time trends and true cohort differences. This approach reveals that changes are selective: dispositions governing social engagement adapt to contemporary conditions while an underlying prosocial core holds steady. The large, multi-decade sample strengthens internal validity compared with single-cohort snapshots common in generational research.

Prior claims of broad generational personality decline, often based on cross-sectional college samples or social-media sentiment, conflate age and cohort. The present design shows that apparent drops in gregariousness among younger adults partly reflect period effects rather than irreversible cohort erosion. This distinction matters for policy: interventions targeting social skills may succeed if they address current cultural pressures rather than assuming fixed generational deficits.

The study remains a preprint without peer review and relies on self-report inventories whose response styles can shift across eras. Stronger evidence would require longitudinal panels with behavioral or informant measures plus explicit tests for measurement invariance across cohorts. Until then, the stability finding should be treated as a well-powered but provisional benchmark.