The Test of Emotional Comprehension (TEC): Psychometric Studies in a Portuguese Population

Abstract The aim of this study was to present the advantages and contributions of the Emotional Comprehension Test (ECT) - Brazilian version, based on the instrument developed by Harris, Pons et al., in the school context of the Portuguese population. The sample comprises 766 children (381 girls), aged between 3 to 13 years (M = 7.21, SD = 1.95), from different socioeconomic backgrounds. The results show that the instrument has acceptable internal consistency and that it is possible to identify the different stages of emotional understanding proposed by the authors. The components measured relate to different important variables in school context (age, socioeconomic status, fluid intelligence), and explain part of the academic performance and school retention.