Projective Indicators of Emotional Destabilization in Children in the Practice of Psychological and Pedagogical Expertise

Abstract

Psychological and pedagogical expertise is part of divorce proceedings. It is intended to resolve custody disputes and diagnose the emotional status of the child by various projective methods. The research objective was to identify effective projective referents of emotional instability and conflict in 63 children going through a custody trial. The control group included 56 children. The subjects were asked to draw a non-existent animal with crayons. The parameters evaluated on a dichotomous scale included: crosshatching, sketching, erasing and correcting, strong pressure, wounds or scars on the animal's body, weak legs, two or more heads, brightness and polychromy. The φ*-Fischer angular transformation criterion was used to compare the frequency in two independent samples and to assess the reliability of the differences. If the imaginary creature had two heads, it was a sign with a high differentiating power, which indicated an internal conflict and emotional contradiction in the child and, as a result, psychological instability. The polychromic pattern also proved different: the children in the experimental group appeared less likely to use color, which may indicate their low energy tone and depressed emotional state. Imaginary creatures on weak legs also proved more common in the experimental group, suggesting the children were going through an unbalanced state. Other parameters were quite rare in both groups.