The Relationship between Self-Drawing and Self-Reports in the Evaluation of Emotional Well-Being in Outpatient Adolescents Assessments

Abstract

The present study examined the following structural elements contained in the self-drawings of 50 adolescents referred for psychological assessment: size, line pressure, inclusions, erasures, and overall completeness. Scores on these structural elements were correlated with the adolescents' self-reports on measures of self-esteem (Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, Culture Free Self-Esteem Inventory) and anxiety (Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale). There was a positive and significant correlation between the line pressure used in the self-drawings and the self-reports of self-esteem and anxiety (Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale and the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale). The correlations between the structural elements of size and erasures with the Culture Free Self-Esteem Inventory were found to be moderate and in the direction predicted, however, they did not meet the criteria for statistical significance at the 1% level. Suggestions for further research using children's self-drawings are presented.