Children's Family Drawings Research Articles

Some Inferences for Educational Programs from Primary School Children's Family Drawings and Verbal Metaphors

This study, which was conducted to make inferences for educational programs by determining the family speeches and drawings of primary school students, was designed employing the understanding of the basic qualitative research. The study included 126 primary school students. The family verbal metaphors and family drawing (draw-narrate) techniques were used to gather research data. The data was analyzed using techniques for content and document analysis. It was observed that the primary school students' family linguistic metaphors could be categorized into six themes: nuclear family, extended family, fight, cooperation, enjoyable action done together, and love. The first graders produced more metaphors for the theme of enjoyable action together and fourth graders produced more metaphors for the theme of love. Following an analysis of the family drawings, it was found that the drawings revealed details about the development, emotions, sorts of families, and interactions between family members. It was also observed that children mostly drew family structures consisting of parents and children. The said family drawings contain more information than verbal metaphors. Only six of the 126 metaphors produced are negative. It was determined that the family discussions and family drawings both accurately expressed and reflected the positive values of the educational programs. Future studies should, as was advised, study both family drawings and potential family drawing-related issues.

The Developmental Implications of the Use of Reproductive Technologies for Transgender People: A Comparative Cross-Section Protocol.

BackgroundToday, individuals and couples with fertility issues can use advances in biomedical technologies to conceive. Transgender persons also benefit from these advances and can not only actualize their self-identified gender identities but also experience parenthood. These strategies for persons to self-actualize and to access parenthood have improved the condition of transgender persons. However, some may question the welfare of the offspring because such transfamily forms are often confusing to many. The sparse research on the psychological well-being of children of transgender people is reassuring. However, the limited empirical research justifies more studies to be conducted with an evidence-based methodology to assess whether these new methods of parenting have any adverse impact on children.AimsThe current report details the protocol we built to compare cognitive development, mental health, gender identity, quality of life, and family dynamics in children of transgender fathers and donor sperm insemination (DSI) and two control groups matched for age and gende typically developing (TD) children and children from cisgender parents and DSI.HypothesisTo calculate sample sizes, we hypothesize no significant difference between groups.Subjects and MethodsSince 2008, married couples that include a transgender father have been able to access DSI and have started conceiving children in France. They are always invited to participate in research to assess their children's well-being. To date, the cohort includes 53 children in 37 families. We propose to carry out a cross-sectional comparative study exploring cognitive development with the Brunet–Lézine Psychomotor Development Scale or Wechsler's Intelligence Scales according to age; mental health with the Child Behaviour Checklist; gender identity with the Gender Identity Interview for Children; quality of life with the KIDSCREEN and the Adolescent Coping Questionnaire; and family dynamics with the Parental Bonding Instrument, the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, the Five-Minute Speech Sample, and Corman's Family Drawing Test. To assess possible subtle differences between children's family drawings, we will use a generalization of the “lady-tasting-tea” procedure to link qualitative and quantitative approaches in psychiatric research. Twenty raters [four child and family psychoanalysts (CHILDPSY), four adult psychiatrists (ADUPSY), four biologists working in assistive reproduction technology (BIOL), four endocrinologists working with transgender individuals (ENDOC), and four students (STUD)] will be randomly shown the drawings and asked to blindly classify them using a Likert scale according to whether the child has a transgender father.Statistical AnalysisAfter testing normality, comparisons between the three groups will be performed with appropriate statistical tests (Kruskal–Wallis, ANOVA, Chi2 or Fisher's exact test). For the “lady-tasting-tea” procedure, we will use a permutation test.EthicsThe study protocol has been approved by the CERES (Comité d'Ethique de Recherche en Santé) of Paris 5 University. Registration number is 2015/31.

Children's Family Drawings as Expressions of Attachment Representations Across Cultures: Possibilities and Limitations.

The present study explored the cross-cultural appropriateness of children's family drawings as a measure for attachment quality. The sample consisted of 63 children aged 6years from two diverse ecosocial contexts: middle-class families from Berlin, Germany (n=32) and rural farming families from small villages around Kumbo, Cameroon (n=31). The analysis of drawings with two classical attachment procedures, the Checklist of Drawing Signs (Kaplan & Main, 1986) and the Global Rating Scales (Fury, 1996), revealed substantial cultural differences. The results thus substantiated children's drawings as important cultural documents. Implications of the findings, however, are discussed in consideration of culture-specific conceptions of attachment relationships as indicated by cultural variations in mother's socialization goals.

A glance at children's family drawings: Associations with children's and parents’ hope and attributional style

The current study examined differences in children's and parents’ hope and negative attributional style as a function of children's attachment categorizations derived from children's family drawings in 77 triads of young elementary school age children ( mean age 6.70, range 6–7.5; SD=53), mothers, and fathers in Israel. In addition, associations between scales in children's family drawings and children's and parents’ hope and negative attributional style were examined. Drawings were coded using Main and Kaplan's (1986) coding system. Both children's and parents’ hopes and attributional style were reflected in the children's drawings. Specifically, the scales reflecting attachment security, such as vitality and pride, were positively correlated with children's hopes and negatively correlated with children's and parents’ negative attributional style. By contrast, the scales reflecting attachment insecurity, such as emotional distance, anger, and pathology, were negatively correlated with participants’ positive attributional style and hope and positively correlated with negative attributional style. Surprisingly, role reversal was positively correlated with mothers’ hope and negatively with fathers’ negative attributional style. Finally, differences in children's hope and negative attributional style, in addition to mothers’ negative attributional style, were found as a function of children's attachment categorizations. The implications for theory and clinical interventions are discussed.

Revisiting the Bird's Nest Drawing assessment: Toward a global approach

The Bird's Nest Drawing (BND) (Kaiser, 1996. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 23, 333–340) is an art-based technique to assess attachment security. In the past 15 years, several studies have tested the validity of the BND mainly in adult clinical populations. In an attempt to strengthen the validity of the measure in children, the current study examined the associations between the BND and two other frequently used assessment techniques evaluating attachment security: Kaplan and Main's (1986. Instructions for the classification of children's family drawings in terms of representation of attachment. Berkeley, CA: University of California) Family Drawing Coding System and the Attachment Security Questionnaire (Kerns et al., 1996. Developmental Psychology, 32, 457–466) on a sample of elementary-school age children (n=81) in Israel. BNDs were scored using specific indicators as well as global rating scales. The findings point to associations between the children's self-reported security score, and the BND indicators and global scales. Similarly, scores on both the specific indicators and global scales in family drawings were correlated with the BND global scales. Levels of BND scales varied as a function of the children's attachment orientations derived from their family drawings. Associations were also found between attachment orientations based on family and BND drawings. Results were interpreted as supporting the use of a global approach of rating in addition to a sign-based approach.

Children's family drawings, body perceptions, and eating attitudes: The moderating role of gender

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between specific indicators in children's family drawings, their body perceptions, and eating attitudes among 192 Israeli children (M=9.14). Among girls, the presence of tiny figures and a general negative impression of the drawings were evident in detecting problematic eating attitudes and body perceptions; the presence of tiny figures was negatively associated with the perception of current self-figure weight, the peer ideal-weight body figure, and the teacher's perception of the child's weight. Vitality, pride (negative), and isolation (positive) in drawings were associated with maladaptive eating attitudes. Vitality (negative) and pathology (negative) in the drawings were associated with teachers’ perception of the child's weight. Among boys, the presence of feminine indicators and gender differences in the drawings was a central indicator in identifying maladaptive body perceptions. Gender differences in the drawings were negatively associated with boys’ perceptions of their current weight, the peer-ideal weight and the teacher's perception of their weight. Drawing feminine indicators was positively associated with maladaptive eating attitudes, and negatively associated with the current weight of the self-figure and peer ideal weight body-figure. Moreover, children's gender moderated the associations between specific indicators and eating behavior and body perceptions. The societal and clinical implications are discussed in light of these findings.

Children's family drawings and internalizing problems

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between specific indicators in children's family drawings and their internalizing problems among Two hundred twenty-two Israeli children (M=9.70). Drawings were coded using Kaplan and Main's (1986) coding system. Indicators reflecting attachment insecurity, such as omitting and adding parts of the figures, adding bizarre marks and lack of femininity, were correlated with internalizing problems. In addition, different associations were found among boys and girls. Among girls, better grounding and centering of the figures, movement, feminine marks and distance from both parents were negatively associated with internalizing problems, while bizarre marks were positively associated. For boys, centering of the figures, sweetness, distance from mother and the addition of strange objects were positively correlated with maladjustment, while completeness of figures and gender differences were correlated negatively. Moreover, our study depicted a moderation of children's gender on the associations between specific indicators and children's internalizing problems. Discerning specific and relatively easily-coded features in children's family drawings may be a useful research and clinical tool to identify internalizing problems.

The family drawings of at-risk children: Concurrent relations with contact with incarcerated parents, caregiver behavior, and stress

The current study examined children's attachment representations as assessed with their family drawings in relation to contact with an incarcerated or estranged parent, caregiver behavior, and family stress in a high-risk sample of children (N = 44, M age = 8.14), 55% of whom had incarcerated parents. Greater phone, mail, and physical contact with an incarcerated parent was associated with more role reversal in children's family drawings. Additional results show that child-reports of more hostile caregiver behavior were associated with greater overall insecurity in their family drawings; child and caregiver reports of stress were associated with increased global pathology and bizarreness/dissociation in children's family drawings. Given the lack of research on concurrent familial-based correlates of ratings made of children's family drawings, these results provide additional insights into children's representations of attachment relationships in early middle childhood. Further, the results regarding contact with incarcerated parents have implications for researchers and clinicians working with families impacted by parental incarceration.

Japanese children's family drawings and their link to attachment

This study explored the applicability of family drawings as a tool to estimate attachment security in a sample of Japanese six-year-olds (N = 47), applying Kaplan and Main's (1986) Family Drawing system. Maternal secure/insecure attachment status judged by the Adult Attachment Interview predicted family drawings' secure/insecure distinction produced by Japanese six-year-olds. However, insecure Japanese drawings took forms not seen in the original Berkeley drawings, such as a lineup of faces alone. Further examination of the Japanese children's drawings using global rating scales (Fury, Carlson, & Sroufe, 1997) yielded significant gender differences, rarely reported in the attachment literature, with girls scoring higher in scales that predict attachment security and boys scoring higher in scales that predict attachment insecurity. However, attachment security, as captured in the drawings, was not related to attachment security, observed behaviorally using Main and Cassidy's (1988) sixth-year reunion system. Implications of the findings are discussed in light of measurements, gender, and culture.

Children's Family Drawings: A Study of Attachment, Personality, and Adjustment

This study examined the relationship between children's attachment security, as manifested in their family drawings, and their personality and adjustment. Family drawings were collected from 222 Israeli children, as well as data regarding their personality and adjustment. Each drawing was coded and classified into 1 of 4 attachment categories based on global and individual characteristics such as completeness of figures, facial expression, size, and degree of movement. Results showed that drawings from securely attached children included more positive markers of personality and reflected their superior psychosocial functioning. Drawings from children in the ambivalent and disorganized attachment categories reflected the children's adjustment difficulties; children whose drawings were classified as representing avoidant attachment were found to function relatively well. The study demonstrated the effectiveness of using family drawings to assess children's attachment representations and to identify children at risk for adjustment problems in the school setting.

Maternal state of mind regarding attachment, maternal depression and children's family drawings in the early school years

The current study explored how children's family drawings in the early school years might be related to their exposure to recurrent episodes of maternal depression. We also examined prospectively relations among maternal state of mind regarding attachment derived from the Adult Attachment Interview and earlier mother–child attachment from the Strange Situation Procedure (both measured when the child was 12–15 months old) and later family drawings. Seventy-five mothers were assessed for symptoms of depression periodically between birth and child age 6–8 years. At this age, children completed a family drawing rated using an attachment-based scoring system. Both mothers' state of mind regarding attachment and their overall depression were modestly, but significantly, correlated with a global rating of the child's drawings. When both predictors were considered together, however, neither was significant, reflecting collinearity between the two variables. In this study, women with a non-autonomous state of mind regarding attachment were significantly more likely to experience recurrent depression. The earlier classification of the child's attachment to the mother from the Strange Situation Procedure was not related to the family drawing.

Representations of Parent–Child Alliances in Children's Family Drawings

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between children's representations of parent–child alliances (PCA) and their peer relationship quality, using a new scale that was developed to rate representations of PCA in children's family drawings. The parent–child alliance pattern is characterized by a relationship between parent and child that is stronger than the marital relationship. We used family drawings to assess children's (at the ages of 4–8 years) representations of alliances because it is often difficult for children to express their perceptions of family dynamics verbally. Children whose drawings were rated higher in PCA were rated lower in prosocial behavior and assertiveness and higher in social problems by their teachers. These relationships were stronger for boys than for girls.

Family Processes and Children's Representations of Parentification

SUMMARY This study investigated relationships between interparental conflict, parental responses to children's emotions, and representations of role-reversal and vulnerability in children's family drawings. As predicted, more frequent interparental conflict and more child involvement in inter-parental conflict were associated with drawings rated higher in role-reversal and maternal satisfaction with conflict strategies was associated with drawings rated lower in vulnerability. For younger children, efficacy of conflict resolution was also related to higher ratings of role-reversal. Further, thematic content of conflict associated with role-reversal and vulnerability was examined. Mothers whose children's drawings were rated high in both role-reversal and vulnerability reported higher levels of problems in several areas than did other mothers. The findings support family systems models emphasizing the relationship between problems in the marital subsystem and problems in parent-child subsystems. Implications of these findings for clinicians using family drawings in assessment or treatment are discussed.

Bicultural identification: Experiences of internationally adopted children and their parents.

University at Albany, State University of New York Little is known about bicultural identity development, a process that is particularly complicated for internationally adopted children. The authors interviewed 8 adoptive families about their cognitive, emotional, and familial experiences. Qualitative analyses showed consistency in the parent and child interviews (conducted independently) and ratings of the children's kinetic family drawings. Themes included parents identifying the family multieul- turally, promoting ethnic pride, and worrying about bigotry. Their ways of educating their children about race differed considerably, however. Results also indicated a developmental progression in the children's understanding of ethnicity in relation to adoption. Although the data indicated good psychosoeial adjustment and strong family attachments, most of these children struggle with a sense of being different, and some experience feelings of sadness and loss. Whereas U. S. children adopted in the early part of the century were orphaned or relinquished by their birth parents because of age, marital status, illness, or poverty, in the past 25 years the predominant reasons for relinquishment have changed dramatically, as have the psychosocial characteris- tics of adoptive families. In contrast to the 1950s, there are now many more older children whose birth parents' rights were terminated because of child abuse or neglect. Further- more, there are fewer healthy infants who need homes because of the increased acceptance of single parenthood and the availability of abortion and birth control. Currently, the majority of those who adopt infants are middle- and upper-income White couples, most of whom have under- gone stressful medical treatments for infertility (Simon & Altstein, 1991). Although many infertile couples choose to adopt domestically through organizations or private attor- neys, increasing numbers of couples and single adults seek children abroad. In the fiscal year 1998 alone, 15,774 children were adopted internationally (Adoptive Families, 1999). Little is known about the psychosocial experiences of White parents with internationally adopted children of color. On reflection, one can see that their experiences differ from Myrna L. Friedlander, Lucille C. Lamey, Marianne Skan, Marcus Hotaling, Marsha L. Cutting, and Michelle Schwam, Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University

Attachment-Based Classifications of Children's Family Drawings: Psychometric Properties and Relations With Children's Adjustment in Kindergarten

Investigated an attachment-based theoretical framework and classification system, introduced by Kaplan and Main (1986), for interpreting children's family drawings. This study concentrated on the psychometric properties of the system and the relation between drawings classified using this system and teacher ratings of classroom social-emotional and behavioral functioning, controlling for childage, ethnic status, intelligence, and fine motor skills. This nonclinical sample consisted of 200 kindergarten children of diverse racial and socioeconomic status (SES). Limited support for reliability of this classification system was obtained. Kappas for overall classifications of drawings (e.g., secure) exceeded .80 and mean kappa for discrete drawing features (e.g., figures with smiles) was .82. Coders' endorsement of the presence of certain discrete drawing features predicted their overall classification at 82.5% accuracy. Drawing classification was related to teacher ratings of classroom functioning independent of child age, sex, race, SES, intelligence, and fine motor skills (with p values for the multivariate effects ranging from .043-.001). Results are discussed in terms of the psychometric properties of this system for classifying children's representations of family and the limitations of family drawing techniques for young children.

Who's in My Family? A Longitudinal Study of Drawings of Children of Divorce

This paper reports on a pilot study in which a family perspective is applied to the analysis of family drawings of children of separation and divorce. The Draw A Family Test is administered to school age children in the first year of parental separation and at follow up one year later. Our focus on family composition and the relative size of each parent, reveals that children from mother custody families, with time, increasingly omit their fathers from the drawings, and tend to draw their mothers as larger than their fathers. It appears as if in this way children express their sense of the growing peripherality of their fathers. We also found a relationship between children adding people from outside the nuclear family and omitting their fathers. Finally, an increasing constriction in the drawings of one quarter of our sample at one year follow up, raises for us the question of how well or poorly children of divorce do over time.

A quick-scoring guide to the interpretation of children's Kinetic Family Drawings (KFD)

Thirty-two potentially significant clinical signs which may appear on children's Kinetic Family Drawings are presented in the form of an interpretive guide. Cautions and benefits of using such a guide are discussed briefly.