Cross-sectional study of emotion understanding in portuguese children

Franco, Glória; Franco, Maria da Glória; Beja, Maria João; Santos, N.; Roazzi, Antonio; Candeias, Adelinda; Portugal, Alda

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/7408

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Authors

Franco, Glória

Franco, Maria da Glória

Abstract(s)

Emotion understanding in children is a complex process involving the conjuga tion of different other processes of emotional information. It has been consi dered a key component of emotional skills in young children and an important predictor social skills development. This study aims to describe the emergence of emotion understanding different components according to age and degree of complexity. The sample comprises 401 portuguese children, ages 43 to 77 months (M=64.17, DP=7.05), attending preschool, and the instruments used were the Test of Emo tion Comprehension (TEC) and Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM). Results have shown that different components of emotion understanding do not appear all at the same time, but evolve over the years along with cognitive development. Children at earlier ages are more able to recognize the expres sion of basic emotions, but the ability to reflect upon emotions consolidates later. Results haven’t shown significant differences considering gender and socioeconomic status.