NCJ Number
194951
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: January-February 2002 Pages: 19-37
Date Published
2002
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the developmental evolution of drawing skills in children, the effects that abuse may have on a child’s drawings, and possible clinical and evidentiary uses of drawings made by children who are abuse victims or suspected abuse victims.
Abstract
The authors explore the prior drawing studies of Hammer (1997) and Thomas and Jolley (1998), specifically researching whether or not evidence supports Hammer’s assertion that "..it should be emphasized that at this time a high degree of accuracy in our generalizations from projective drawings to life situations cannot be expected." And Thomas and Jolley’s hypothesis that "Many clinicians may simply operate on the basis of their own experience, and perhaps borrow ideas from projective drawing tests and associated psychodynamic theories." The authors begin with an overview of the development of drawing skills in children and then discuss the evolution of the use of drawings as a nonverbal communication tool by clinicians interviewing children who may have been abuse victims, based upon the belief that drawings are projective devices. The authors further review the findings of past projective drawing studies. The authors term the results of this literature review inconclusive in terms of supporting either the Hammer (1997) or Thomas and Jolley (1998) propositions. This was due to the fact that the small number of studies found and the lack of comparable data extracted. 2 tables, 1 figure, 77 references