Relationship between Human Figure Drawings and Self-Esteem

Abstract

The correlation of self-esteem and mental age was estimated for 14 boys and 15 girls on Coopersmith's Self-esteem Inventory and the Goodenough-Harris Draw-a-Man. A significant negative Pearson correlation of .710 between mean self-esteem and drawing was noted for boys. A significant sex difference for drawing was observed.

The use and abuse of human figure drawings.

“…Wilson-Ball (1989) found no relationship between children’s self-concept derived from drawings and those derived from standard measures. Calhoun, Ross, and Bolton (1988) found an inverse relationship between boys’ self-esteem scores derived from drawings and actual self-esteem. Kurdek and Darnell-Goetschel (1987), found no relationship between figure drawing features and anxiety and hostility.…”