Children's Figure Drawings Research Articles

Research on the practical path of ideological and political construction in preschool education major curriculum ——taking the "children's stick figure drawing" course as an example

Curriculum ideological and political education is an important way to cultivate college students in the new era with socialist core values. This study focuses on constructing the implementation strategy of ideological and political education in preschool education curriculum, especially by analyzing the examples of "children's stick figure drawing" curriculum, demonstrating the urgent need of integrating ideological and political education into preschool education majors, and exposing the main challenges encountered in the current practice of this field. According to the characteristics of the "children's stick figure painting" course content, the ideological and political education content is organically combined with the course content, in order to cultivate preschool educators with socialist core values.

A study on creative drawing strategies based on the human head features in children's realistic figure drawings

A study on creative drawing strategies based on the human head features in children's realistic figure drawings

Öğrenme Güçlüğü Tanısı Olan 7-12 Yaş Arasındaki Çocukların İnsan Figürü Çizimlerinin İncelenmesi

Bu araştırmada öğrenme güçlüğü tanısına sahip olan yedi-on iki yaş arasındaki çocukların insan figürü çizimlerinin çeşitli değişkenler açısından incelenmesi ve çocukların beklenen performans ile gözlenen performansları arasında farklılıklar olup olmadığının incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Betimsel araştırma modellerinden kesitsel araştırma modeli kullanılarak yürütülen araştırmanın çalışma grubunu Ankara ilinde özel eğitim ve rehabilitasyon merkezine devam eden ve öğrenme güçlüğü tanısı almış yedi-on iki yaş arasındaki 47 çocuk oluşturmaktadır. Araştırma verileri araştırmacılar tarafından oluşturulan demografik özelliklere ilişkin değişkenleri içeren “Çizim Analiz Formu” ve “Koppitz Bir İnsan Çiz Testi” kullanılarak toplanmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda; öğrenme güçlüğü tanısı olan çocukların gözlemlenen performanslarının beklenen insan figürü çizimlerinin altında kaldığı, erkeklerin kaş, kirpik ve giyim gibi çevresel faktörlerden etkilenen alanların kızlara göre daha az çizimlerinde yer aldığı, eğitim seviyesi ve yaşın ilerlemesiyle insan çizimindeki eksik parçaların azaldığı tespit edilmiştir.

Teacher power and children's loneliness: Moderating effects of teacher‐child relationships and peer relationships

AbstractTeacher‐child relationships and peer relationships are important predictors of children's loneliness. However, few studies have examined the potential and adverse relationship between teacher power and children's loneliness. Thus, we explicitly explored whether teacher power is related to children's loneliness and examined the potential moderating roles of interpersonal relationships (i.e., teacher‐child relationships and peer relationships) in 888 Chinese children. Moreover, this study measured teacher power with children's figure drawings. The results showed that teacher power was significantly and positively related to children's loneliness, and both teacher‐child relationships and peer relationships moderated the link between the two variables. Specifically, the adverse correlation between teacher power and children's loneliness was not significant among children with high‐quality teacher‐child relationships. Similarly, the negative effect of teacher power on children's loneliness was not found among children with a high level of peer relationships. Therefore, our results confirmed that the adverse relationship between teacher power and children's loneliness, and the protective roles of high quality of teacher‐child relationships and high levels of peer relationships in this relationship. Potential implications and future research directions are discussed.

Protective effect of physical activity on dissatisfaction with body image in children – A cross-sectional study

Abstract Objective To evaluate, in pre-adolescents and adolescents, the frequency of body image dissatisfaction and distortion and to assess the association between these factors and physical activity and body mass index (BMI). Design Cross-sectional study. Methods 234 children (10–17 years) from a Porto high school were evaluated. Dissatisfaction with body image (FID) was assessed by Collins’ child figure drawings for pre-adolescents and adolescents. FID was calculated as the discrepancy between the “ideal figure” and the “perceived figure”. Body image distortion (BID) was calculated as the discrepancy between the “perceived figure” and the “real figure”. The Baecke questionnaire was applied to determine the habitual physical activity index (HPAI) of each participant. Results Girls were more dissatisfied than boys with their body image (68.1% vs 52.9%). A high proportion of students of both genders and age groups revealed BID (71.8%) with 51.3% underestimating their body image and 20.5% overestimating it. A negative association was found between the FID and BID (girls: r = −.259, p = .006; boys: r = −.414, p Conclusion FID and BID are highly frequent and inversely associated. BID increases directly with BMI percentiles in both genders while physical activity has a protective effect on dissatisfaction of body image.

Physical self‐perception and motor performance in normal‐weight, overweight and obese children

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among physical self-perception, body image and motor performance in Italian middle school students. Two hundred and sixty children were categorized into normal-weight (n=103), overweight (n=86) or obese (n=71) groups. Perceived coordination, body fat and sports competence were assessed using the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire, while body image was measured using Collins' Child Figure Drawings. Individuals' perceptions of strength, speed and agility were assessed using the Perceived Physical Ability Scale. Tests involving the standing long jump, 2 kg medicine-ball throw, 10 × 5 m shuttle-run and 20 and 30 m sprints were also administered. Girls, when compared with boys, and overweight and obese participants, when compared with normal-weight peers, reported lower perceived and actual physical competence, higher perceived body fat and greater body dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction mediated all the associations between body mass index (BMI) and the different aspects of physical self-perception in boys, but not in girls. The same pattern of results was found for physical self-perception as a mediator of the relationship between BMI and body dissatisfaction. In conclusion, obesity proved to have adverse effects on both motor performance and physical self-perception.

Body image, perceived and actual physical abilities in normal-weight and overweight boys involved in individual and team sports

The aim of the study was to examine the relationships among body image, perception of physical abilities, and motor performance in boys involved in organized individual (i.e. tennis, fencing, judo) and team (i.e. soccer, handball, volleyball) sports. Altogether, 162 children (12.6 ± 1.0 years) were categorized as normal-weight (n = 85) or overweight (n = 77). Body image was measured using Collins' Child Figure Drawings, while individuals' perceptions of strength, speed, and agility were assessed using the Perceived Physical Ability Scale. Fitness tests of the standing long jump, 20 m sprint, and 10 × 5 m shuttle-run were also administered. Overweight boys showed greater body dissatisfaction and lower actual physical abilities than normal-weight peers. Participants involved in team sports reported lower body dissatisfaction and better performances in the shuttle-run compared with those involved in individual sports. For boys participating in team sports, body dissatisfaction was a significant mediator of the effect of body mass index on perceived physical ability. Results may influence intervention efforts, suggesting that targeting personal, psychological, and physical factors may prove efficient across physical activity locations and weight groups.

Child-feeding Practices and Child Overweight Perceptions of Family Day Care Providers Caring for Preschool-aged Children

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the attitudes, feeding practices, and child overweight perceptions of family day-care providers caring for preschool-aged children and to examine whether child feeding practices differ based on child weight perceptions. One hundred twenty-three family day-care providers participated in this cross-sectional exploratory study and completed a self-administered survey measuring feeding attitudes and practices from the Child Feeding Questionnaire, demographic information, and self-reported height and weight. Participants selected a cut point to identify childhood overweight using male and female child figure drawings. Participants reported a high level of responsibility in feeding and monitoring of children's food intake. Differences were found in child feeding practices between family day-care providers based on their child weight perceptions for girls. Providers who selected the smaller girl figures as the cut point for overweight were more concerned about the children becoming overweight and used more restriction in child feeding compared with the providers who selected the larger girl figures. Health professionals should continue working with this population to promote positive feeding environments.

A Comparison of Concept Development and Human Figure Drawings of Children who Receive Preschool Education vs Those Who do Not

This study evaluated from a developmental point of view the basic concept knowledge and human figure drawings of children who did and did not attend preschool. A total of 118 children who received preschool education and 147 children who did not do so participated in the study. The mean age of children was 75.4 months. Their concept knowledge was evaluated by using the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (Boehm-3) and their human figure drawings were evaluated by using Koppitz's developmental scoring criteria. Consequently, a meaningful difference was found between the basic concept knowledge of children who attended preschool (p<.05) and those who did not, however no such difference was found in their human figure drawings (p>.05). In addition to these, the study also examined the correlation between children's basic concept scores and their developmental human figure drawing scores (children who went preschoolers r= 0.156, p>.05, children who did not attend preschoolers r= 0.40, p>.05).

Descriptive Analysis Of Nigerian Children Human Figure Drawings: A Developmental Approach

Art is a symbolic means of communication through which man can communicate his inner needs, desires and worries. Children find art a good means of communicating what ordinarily, they may not be able to describe orally. This study was on description of Nigerian children human figure art using Lowenfeld and Brittain (1970) developmental model. The participants were five hundred and twenty six (526) children drawn from population of primary and junior secondary schools from two towns in Northern and Southern Nigeria respectively. They included three hundred and eight (308) females and two and eighteen (218) males. Their ages ranged between 6 to 13 years. Their (18) males. Their ages ranged between 6 to 13 years. Their M age was 9.84 and SD age was 2.08. The analysis of the drawing showed developmental sequences on human figure drawings of children. Every age had their peculiarities on the drawings that differed from that of other ages. The developmental peculiarities were analyzed on such factors as spatial relationships, sexual orientations, socio-cultural and image representations. Implications of the study for early diagnosis and intervention on children were discussed.

Body Image, Perceived Physical Ability, and Motor Performance in Nonoverweight and Overweight Italian Children

The purpose was to examine body image, perceived physical ability, and motor performance in nonoverweight (n=105, 53 boys and 52 girls) and overweight (n=105, 52 boys and 53 girls) children, ranging in age from 8 to 10 years and attending elementary schools in southeastern Italy. Body image was measured on Collins' Child Figure Drawings, while self-efficacy was assessed by the Perceived Physical Ability Scale for Children. Age-appropriate field-based tests of standing long jump, 1-kg medicine-ball throw, basketball throw, and 10-m and 20-m sprint from a standing position were also administered to gauge motor performance. Univariate analyses of variance [2 (group) x 2 (sex) x 3 (8, 9, 10 yr.)] showed that overweight children reported larger body-dissatisfaction scores, lower self-efficacy scores, and poorer performance on weight-bearing tasks than nonoverweight peers. In addition, boys had higher mean scores on physical self-efficacy and better performance on all motor tests. The correlation between Body Mass Index and body dissatisfaction was positive for boys and girls.

Drawing self and others: How do children with autism differ from those with learning difficulties?

When children draw pictures of human beings, they reveal things not only about their general intellectual and artistic abilities, but also about their awareness and conception of themselves and others. What might the human figure drawings of children with autism reveal about their images of self and other – and what might they disclose about social factors that shape the drawings of children who do not have autism? On the basis of an hypothesis about the restricted social awareness of children and adolescents with autism, we predicted that there would be little differentiation between their drawings of themselves and other people. To test this prediction, we investigated a group of children and adolescents with autism and a group with learning difficulties but not autism (N = 14 per group) who were individually matched for both chronological age and verbal mental age. Participants with autism mostly drew human figures that were little distinguished from one another, but introduced clear contrasts among their houses, whereas most of those with learning difficulties drew distinctive human figures as well as houses. These different profiles of performance occurred despite similarities in the numbers and kinds of feature included in the drawings, and the individuality of participants' drawing styles. Although the results were in keeping with our hypothesis that human figure drawings might reflect abnormalities in the way that children with autism mentally represent themselves and others, we conclude by stressing our tentativeness over this interpretation of the findings.

The human figure drawings of children with Down syndrome

Seventeen children with Down syndrome (mean chronological age 9 years 3 months, mean mental age 4 years 3 months) were individually matched for verbal mental age or chronological age with two groups of normal children. Each child drew a man from imagination and a man from a model. The drawings were scored using Koppitz's (1968) system. The normal 9‐year‐old children produced consistently higher scores than either of the other groups. The children with DS differed from the other groups in that they did not show an improvement in the model task. In addition, whereas the normal 4‐year‐olds' drawing scores correlated with mental age those of the children with DS did not. These results are discussed in terms of the developmental difference debate; in particular, the results provide some evidence for a qualitative difference in the developmental pattern of children with DS.

Body image dissatisfaction in preadolescent children

Abstract This study was designed to explore preadolescent children's body image dissatisfaction and to identify psychometrically sound measures of dissatisfaction for this population. Participants were 109 male and 95 female elementary school students ranging from 8 to 10 years of age. Children completed Child Figure Drawings, a revised version of the Body Dissatisfaction scale of the Eating Disorder Inventory (Revised EDI-BD), Anxiety and Happiness and Satisfaction subscales of the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and each child's gender, race, height, and weight were also recorded. The Child Figure Drawings and the Revised EDI-BD were readministered after 2 to 3 weeks. The Revised EDI-BD emerged as a psychometrically sound measure of body dissatisfaction within this age range. Girls demonstrated significantly higher levels of body dissatisfaction and lower levels of self-esteem than boys. The results are discussed in terms of the development and implications of body dissatisfaction in preadolescent children.

Looking ahead: Planning for the inclusion of detail affects relative sizes of head and trunk in children's human figure drawings

We investigated whether children preplan the sizes of head and trunk in their human figure drawings. We asked children aged 4 to 7 years to draw a man, and examined the effects of asking for specific details on the relative sizes of head and trunk. Asking children to depict details of a jacket in their drawing of a man resulted in drawings with a reliably larger trunk area relative to that of the head. Although asking children to depict teeth did result in a larger head relative to the trunk, this effect was not statistically significant. However, asking children to draw a man from the back so that his face could not be seen resulted in significantly smaller heads relative to the trunk. These results indicate that children can preplan the size of head and trunk in anticipation of the amount of detail they intend to include within the outline. The results also suggest that the overestimation of the size of the head commonly found in young children's figure drawing is partly a result of the greater amount of detail usually included in the outline of the head compared to the trunk.

The development of size scaling in children's figure drawings

Size scaling in drawings made by children aged 3:6 years to 6:5 years, was investigated in three experiments. In Expt 1, children's drawings of a man were taller than their drawings of a dog (i.e. correct ordinal height scaling) and the order of making the drawings (and thus space remaining on the paper) had no effect on their height. In terms of the combined area of head and trunk, however, dog drawings were smaller than man drawings only when the man was drawn first. In Expt 2, even the youngest children on average produced correct ordinal height scaling in their drawings of topics which differed greatly in real size (house, man and dog), but the height of the dog was overestimated relative to the man and the height of the man was overestimated relative to the house. The relative overestimation of dog and man declined with increasing age. In Expt 3, topics which did not differ greatly in size (man and door) were generally not scaled correctly, but the scaling was more accurate when man and door were drawn close together in the picture. Thus, an effort towards visually correct size scaling could be detected even in very young children's drawings, but only on a size dimension which was salient and relevant for topic differentiation.

Development and differentiation in children's figure drawings

Children, aged between 3 1/2 and 6 1/2 years old, were each asked to make a drawing of a man and a dog. The drawings were scored in terms of their relative sizes, orientation and the numbers of common features, human features and dog features portrayed. The total number of features increased with increasing age, as did the proportions of distinguishing features. The lack of differentiation by younger children was due both to the absence of distinguishing features in both drawings, and to the inclusion of human features in their dog drawing. Even in the youngest age group, however, the dog drawing included more dog features than did the man drawing. These results support the hypothesis that first drawings of an animal are often adaptations of the child's scheme for a human figure. Older children increasingly adopted canonical orientations for their drawings (full‐face vertical man, profile horizontal animal). There was no significant effect of the order in which the drawings were made, and drawing both figures together on one page resulted in smaller drawings with fewer features. Girls included more features in total, and proportionally more human features, in their drawings than did boys.

Studies of Body Image. IV. Figure Drawings in Normal and Abnormal Geriatric and Nongeriatric Groups

Figure drawings were obtained from 72 normal adults, 48 adult psychiatric inpatients, 30 senior citizens, and 33 elderly inpatients in a mental hospital. Blind analyses were carried out for "emotional indicators" and other characteristics such as body image disturbance and intellectual impairment. Significant differences were found on almost all measures between the normal elderly and the normal adult. They were also found to discriminate between the normal adult group and the adult psychiatric patients. Very few differences were found between the normal elderly and elderly psychiatric patients, or between normal elderly and adult psychiatric patients. These results imply that norms based upon figure drawings of children or adults may not apply to the elderly and that, therefore, figure drawings may be a less useful diagnostic tool for elderly people than they are for children or adults.

Children's Figure Drawings and Changing Attitudes toward Sex Roles

Based on an analysis of the sex of the first drawn figure as being the product of both sexual identificatory ties and cultural attitudes toward the sexes, it was hypothesized that the more positive contemporary values assigned to the female role would be reflected in a greater percentage of girls now drawing their own sex as compared to previous times. This expectation was confirmed with two separate normative samples. The second hypothesis, predicting a differential effect of an instructional set stressing sexual equality as compared with a set stressing sexual role distinction or a control condition, was not supported.

A Comparsion of Figure Drawings and WISC IQ's Among Disabled Readers

Children's figure drawings have been used as a measure of intellectual development since at least the 1920's. This study assesses the relationship between IQ scores from two systems for scoring figure drawings as compared to performance on the WISC in a population of disabled readers. The two figure drawing scoring systems yield very similar results in spite of the fact that one was more recently standardized and is more complex. Scores derived from figure drawings show significant correlations with scores from the Performance, but not the Verbal, section of the WISC. Scores on several of the Performance subtests were also significantly related to figure drawing scores. The results of the study also pointed out the need to differentiate subgroups among disabled readers.