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THE BODY-IMAGE OF PHYSICALLY ABUSED AND NORMAL ADOLESCENTS CRAIG w. HJORTH’ MICHELE HARWAY Institute for Juvenile Research Chicago University of Southern California and California Graduate Institute Compared the human figure drawings of h sically abused adolescents with those of normal adolescents. The Draw-I-Jerson test was administered to 00 adolescents, 30 of whom were victims of h sical abuse. Significant dif- ferences were found between the drawings o r t l e two groups on six of the eight scoring cri.eria utilized. Significant DAP as ects included erasure, cloth- ing, detail, fingers, symmetry and arm position. d e drawings of the physically abused adolescents, taken as a whole, seemed to be indicative of poor body image with signs of insecurity, inadequacy, withdrawal, and interpersonal problems. In the recent years, child abuse has been the center of much attention in the mental health field. The literature indicates that the vast majority of research on child abuse focuses on the act of battering, its physical consequences, and on the parents and their personalities (Klier, 1978), while the child, the victim, has received only minimal attention in terms of research (Martin, 1976). In this study the physically abused adolescent’s human figure drawings were compared to the normal adolescent’s drawings to assess differences. METHOD Subjects Thirty adolescents of both genders, detained at a county facility for abused children because they were victims of physical abuse, served as the S group. A matched control group was chosen from the local community on the criteria of age, gender and race. Ss’ ages ranged from 12 to 16 years, with a mean of 13.7. Each group consisted of 15 males and 15 females. The racial distribution for males was as follows: 7 Whites, 6 Blacks, 1 Oriental and 1 Hispanic. For the females the proportions were 7 Blacks, 5 Whites, 2 Hispanics and 1 Oriental. Test and ProceduTe The Draw-A-Person test was administered as described by Nachover (1949). While validity of the DAP has been widely discussed, Wysocki and Wysocki (1973, 1977), Wysocki and Whitney (1965) and Soccolich and Wysocki (1967) have found the test very useful in the personality assessment of children and adolescents for research purposes. Based upon their research, eight scoring criteria were used to evaluate the drawings. Each S was tested individually, A brief period of time was used to establish rapport with each adolescent. With each group, attempts were made to relieve any anxiety that the adolescent might display. The S was assured that this was not a test of drawing ability, but was asked to do the best job possible. If the ado- lescent felt insecure about the method of drawing, it was emphasized that technique was not important. In general, the abused group proceeded without questions. In contrast, the control group tended to ask questions about the nature of the test. The method of administration was as follows: An 8% X 11 unlined sheet of paper was placed in front of the S, as was a #2 lead pencil with an eraser. The ‘This study was completed as part of the first author’s doctoral dissertation at the California Graduate Institute. The authors are grateful to Boleslaw Wysocki for his comments on the manu- script. Requests for reprints should be addressed to the first author. 863

The body-image of physically abused and normal adolescents

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T H E BODY-IMAGE OF PHYSICALLY ABUSED AND NORMAL ADOLESCENTS

CRAIG w. HJORTH’ MICHELE HARWAY

Institute for Juvenile Research Chicago

University of Southern California and California Graduate Institute

Compared the human figure drawings of h sically abused adolescents with those of normal adolescents. The Draw-I-Jerson test was administered to 00 adolescents, 30 of whom were victims of h sical abuse. Significant dif- ferences were found between the drawings o r t l e two groups on six of the eight scoring cri.eria utilized. Significant DAP as ects included erasure, cloth- ing, detail, fingers, symmetry and arm position. d e drawings of the physically abused adolescents, taken as a whole, seemed to be indicative of poor body image with signs of insecurity, inadequacy, withdrawal, and interpersonal problems.

I n the recent years, child abuse has been the center of much attention in the mental health field. The literature indicates that the vast majority of research on child abuse focuses on the act of battering, its physical consequences, and on the parents and their personalities (Klier, 1978), while the child, the victim, has received only minimal attention in terms of research (Martin, 1976). In this study the physically abused adolescent’s human figure drawings were compared to the normal adolescent’s drawings to assess differences.

METHOD Subjects

Thirty adolescents of both genders, detained a t a county facility for abused children because they were victims of physical abuse, served as the S group. A matched control group was chosen from the local community on the criteria of age, gender and race. Ss’ ages ranged from 12 to 16 years, with a mean of 13.7. Each group consisted of 15 males and 15 females. The racial distribution for males was as follows: 7 Whites, 6 Blacks, 1 Oriental and 1 Hispanic. For the females the proportions were 7 Blacks, 5 Whites, 2 Hispanics and 1 Oriental.

Test and ProceduTe The Draw-A-Person test was administered as described by Nachover (1949).

While validity of the DAP has been widely discussed, Wysocki and Wysocki (1973, 1977), Wysocki and Whitney (1965) and Soccolich and Wysocki (1967) have found the test very useful in the personality assessment of children and adolescents for research purposes. Based upon their research, eight scoring criteria were used to evaluate the drawings.

Each S was tested individually, A brief period of time was used to establish rapport with each adolescent. With each group, attempts were made to relieve any anxiety that the adolescent might display. The S was assured that this was not a test of drawing ability, but was asked to do the best job possible. If the ado- lescent felt insecure about the method of drawing, it was emphasized that technique was not important.

In general, the abused group proceeded without questions. In contrast, the control group tended to ask questions about the nature of the test.

The method of administration was as follows: An 8% X 11 unlined sheet of paper was placed in front of the S, as was a # 2 lead pencil with an eraser. The

‘This study was completed as part of the first author’s doctoral dissertation at the California Graduate Institute. The authors are grateful to Boleslaw Wysocki for his comments on the manu- script. Requests for reprints should be addressed to the first author.

863

864 Journal of Clinical Psychology, October, 1981, Vol. 37, N o . 4.

adolescent mas told: “Draw a person.” Any questions were responded to in neutral fashion. When the S finished the drawing, another sheet of paper was handed to the S , n-ho was asked to draw a person of the opposite sex. After completion of this drawing, the S was handed another sheet and asked to draw a self-portrait. This concluded the administration of the test. Time for individual administration varied from 10-35 minutes for each individual.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In this study eight DAP aspects were assumed to be indicative of body image

as described by Wysocki and Wysocki (1973). These aspects were size, erasure, environmental objects, clothing, fingers, detail, symmetry and arm position. The first three aspects were scored on a 5-point scale, while the remaining five were scored on a presence-absence basis. Table 1 displays the findings of the Chi-square analysis computed upon the results.

TABLE 1 DISTRIBUTION OF DAP VARIABLES

OF ABUSED AND NORMAL ADOLESCENTS

DAP variables s s 1 2 3 4 5 x X’ P

1. Size

2. Erasure

3. Environment

4. Clothing

5. Detail

6. Fingers

7. Symmetry

8. Ann position

A 10 N 3

A 51 N 27

A 86 N 83

P

A 33 N 80

A 30 N 66

A 54 N 76

A 3 4 N 56

A 8 N 0

27 28 17 8 2.84 6.46 36 28 19 4 2.83

15 8 10 6 1.94 18.72 31 15 5 12 2.37

3 1 0 0 1.05 3.05 6 0 1 0 1.1

A

57 54.77 10

60 30.5 24

36 14.64 14

56 11.76 34

82 4.84 90

na

.OOl

na

. 001

. 001

. 001

.OOl

.05

N0h-A = Abused, N = Normal.

Size Size was scored on a 5-point scale that ranged from a drawing size of 1.2 mm

to 26.2 mm. There proved to be no significant differences between the groups on this variable. This was contrary to Wysocki’s expectations (Note 1).

Erasure The number of erasures was classified on a 5-point scale that ranged from

0-1 erasures to 8-9 erasures. Analysis revealed that the abused group made signi- ficantly fewer erasures than the control group. This is consistent with the findings

Body Image 865

of Wysocki and Wysocki (1973), n-ho found that normal children strive more for perfection and therefore tend to erase more in order to gain the desired effect.

Environment The number of environmental objects in the drawings were scored from 0-4.

As Table 1 shows, there was no significant difference between the groups; both groups had very few environmental objects in their drawings.

Clothing This variable was scored on a presence-absence basis. Clothing was present

in 80 of 90 drawings in the normal group, while in the abused group only 33 of 90 drawings had clothing. This difference was significant a t the .001 level. It has been suggested by several authors (Hammer, 1968; Holzberg & Wexler, 19.30; Machover, 1949; Urban, 1963) that absence of clothing reveals a lack of genuine satisfaction with social intercourse. Moreover, lack of clothing suggests introversive tendencies with fantasy satisfaction usually preferred as is the case with schizoids and schizophrenics.

Detail The amount of detail was scored on a presence-absence criterion. The normal

group had a presence of detail in 66 of the 90 drawings, while the abused group had a presence of detail in only 30 of 90 drawings. This difference was significant at the .001 level. It has been suggested that lack of detail indicates the presence of anxiety (Mogar, 1962), a poor body image (Nathan, 1973) and poor adjustment in children (Vane & Eisen, 1962).

Fingers The presence or absence of fingers also n-as determined. Results indicate

that 76 of 90 drawings in the normal group had fingers, whiIe 36 of the abused drawings had an absence of fingers. This difference was significant a t the .001 level. Jolles (1964) reported that the omission of fingers suggests difficulty with interpersonal relationships.

Symmetry Symmetry was scored according to a presence-absence criterion. Table 1

indicates that 36 drawings of 90 in the normal group were not symmetrical, while 56 of 90 drawings in the abused group displayed marked problems of symmetry. This difference was significant a t the .001 level. The marked disturbance of sym- metry on the abused group’s drawings suggests feelings of insecurity or inade- quacy, according to some writers (Hammer, 1968; Mundy, 1972; Wolff, 1946). Others (Buck, 1966; Hammer, 1969; Machover, 1949; McElhaney, 1969) have suggested an unbalanced self-concept with possible sex-role confusion.

Arm Position The results of the presence-absence analysis of horizontal arm position revealed

that there was a complete absence of horizontal positioning in the normal group, while the abused group had a presence of horizontal arm position on 8 of the 90 drawings-a difference significant at the .05 level. Machover (1949) suggests that the presence of this feature indicates an individual with shallow, affectless contact with environment.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS This study sought to assess the body image of physically abused adolescents

as compared to normal adolescents through t,he objective scoring of the Draw- A-Person figures. Wysocki and Wysocki’s (1973) scoring criteria for body image were used to evaluate the drawings. The two groups differed significantly in six

866 Journal of Clinical Psychology, October, 1981, Vol. 37, N o . 4.

of eight aspects: Erasure, clothing, detail, fingers, symmetry and arm position. The two variables of size and environment did not differentiate significantly be- tween the two groups of adolescents.

The drawings of the abused adolescents were characterized by less erasure, absence of clothing, fingers, and detail. Their drawings were also less symmetrical and sometimes displayed rigid horizontal position of the arms. In comparison, the drawings of the normal adolescents contained more erasure and presence of clothing, fingers and detail. Their drawings tended to be symmetrical and the arm position more flexible. Both groups tended to leave out environmental objects in their drawings.

The findings are supportive of clinical descriptions of abused adolescents as having poor interpersonal relationships, introversive tendencies, insecurity, anxiety, poor body image, poor adjustment, poor self-concept, and sex-role con- fusion, The finding that size does not differentiate between the two groups is sur- prising (Wysocki, 1980) and should be investigated further with larger samples, which can be broken down further into subgroups.

REFERENCE NOTE 1. WYSOCKI, B. A. Personal communication, July 27, 1980.

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