Children's Human Figure Drawings as Measures of Intelligence: The Comparative Validity of Three Scoring Systems

Abstract

This study examined the scoring systems of Goodenough and Harris (1963), Naglieri (1988), and Ayres and Reid (I1966) for using human figure drawings to assess the intellectual abilities of children. Drawing scores of 100 children, aged 6 to 15, were compared to their performance on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), while the drawing scores of a separate group of 100 children, aged 6 to 15, were compared to their performance on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-I1I). All three drawing systems correlated significantly and at similar levels with the WISC-R as well as the WISC-III, suggesting that the far shorter and more recent Naglieri technique may save clinicians time and effort. None of the drawing systems had a pattern of significantly different validity coefficients for children of varying ages or intelligence scores.

Children’s human figure drawings do not measure intellectual ability

“…Consistent with prior research, we found a modest correlation between children's scores on the DAP:QSS and their scores on more standard measures of intellectual and academic functioning (Abell et al, 2001;Naglieri, 1988;Prewett et al, 1989). In fact, even though we used short forms of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales, the absolute value of the correlation obtained in this study reflects the average size of the correlations reported in prior research.…”

“…There was a positive partial correlation between participants' standard scores on the DAP:QSS and their full-scale standard scores on the WPPSI-R/WASI (pr = .40, p < .001). 3 The magnitude of this partial correlation is highly consistent with prior research in which children's scores on these two tests have been compared, indicating that there was nothing unusual about the nature of the sample or the subtests that were used to estimate IQ (Abell et al, 2001;Naglieri, 1988;Prewett et al, 1989).…”

“…In addition, Prewett and colleagues (1989) reported correlation coefficients ranging from .34 to .41 between the DAP:QSS and the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement-Comprehensive Form (KTEA) (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1985) for developmentally handicapped (DH) children. Similar correlations have been reported for the DAP:QSS when compared with the Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale scores of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) (Wechsler, 1974) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) (Wechsler, 1991); correlation coefficients ranged from .29 to .55 (Abell, Wood, & Liebman, 2001;Wisniewski & Naglieri, 1989).…”

Academic Achievement and Psychosocial Profile of Egyptian Primary School Children in South Sinai

“…The performance of this drawing task relies on various cognitive, motoric, perceptual, attentional, and motivational capacities. Previous research proved that performance on the Goodenough Draw a Man Test correlated moderately with scores on time-consuming comprehensive IQ tests, and the test was both reliable and valid [10, 11]. …”

Un estudio normativo de los ítemes madurativos del test del dibujo del Test del Dibujo de Dos Figuras Humanas en niños indígenas yaquis

“…Este amplio uso se debe fundamentalmente a que la tarea que se propone es una actividad natural en la infancia, por lo que resulta atractiva y no ame nazante para los niños, y a que su carác-ter no verbal y breve permite la evaluación de niños con problemas de lenguaje, hiperactividad, atención y aprendizaje (Abell, Wood & Liebman, 2001;Scott, 1981) o que no hablan la lengua del país (Abell et al, 2001).…”