CROSS-VALIDATION OF LEWIS AND MICHALSON SYSTEM FOR MEASUREMENT OF CHILDRENS EMOTIONAL STATES

Lewis and Michalson's (1983a) theory of emotional development, and the ir related measurement technique for assessing emotional states of inf ants and young children, need independent validation, particularly for applied usage. Twenty-eight toddlers (mean age, 31 months) were obser ved in a seminaturalistic setting. Emotional displays and Lewis and Mi chalson (LM) scores were coded independently. Some individual cross-co ntextual stability was found for LM scores, which also varied in mean level across these different contexts. Regarding concurrent validity, microanalytically coded emotional displays were related to LM scores.