Human figure drawings: Validity in assessing intellectual level and academic achievement

✍ Scribed by Kerry G. Aikman; Ronald W. Belter; A. J. Finch Jr.

• Book ID: 101343598
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 420 KB
• Volume: 48
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9762
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-4679(199201)48:1<114::aid-jclp2270480116>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

In a sample of 216 child and adolescent psychiatric inpatients, significant but low correlations were found between Goodenough-Harris (GH) drawing scores and both Full Scale IQs and academic achievement. The percentage of subjects correctly classified in appropriate IQ categories ranged from 35 to 44%; the percentage of misclassified subjects ranged from 56 to 65%.

Consideration of visual-motor integration, using the Bender-Gestalt , did not improve the accuracy of G-H scores in predicting IQ scores in this sample.

These results indicate that human figure drawings should not be substituted for other well-established intelligence and achievement tests nor used as an additional measure of these constructs when one is evaluating psychiatric patients.