Fallacious Gender Differences on the Projective Drawing Test for Assessment of Emotional Behavioral Problems among Elementary School Children

Abstract

This study utilized projective drawing tests to identify whether the gender difference on a projective drawing test reflects actual differences of their psychological conditions between boys and girls. Despite their lack of objective scoring criteria, drawing tests have revealed that boys are more problematic both emotionally and behaviorally than girls. In this study, gender differences were examined via the Emotional-Behavioral Drawing Test. Six evaluators score the psychological conditions of 172 elementary school children. Positive automatic thought and emotional reactivity were measured as covariates. Results indicated there were statistically significant gender differences in drawing scores, but there were no significant effects of covariates. Given these results, it is plausible that no significant differences in psychological conditions existed between genders, even though boys may draw more psychologically problematic drawings than girls. It is suggested to apply gender criterion to score all types of drawing tests because boys and girls are different in drawings and expressing emotions.