An investigation of human figure drawings and the use of colours in psychological evaluation of children with emotional and behavioral disorders

Abstract

Objective. This study investigated whether psychological evaluation of children with Emotional and Behavioural Disorders (EBD) could be conducted through Human Figure Drawings and the use of color. Methods. A total of 74 participants from a youth center, local primary or secondary schools were invited, and 57 of them (25 students with EBD, 32 students without EBD) who had not received art education beyond schools were chosen to study. To measure their Human Figure Drawings, 30 Emotional Indicators (EIs) and 30 Developmental Items (DIs) (Koppitz, 1968) were employed to assess the participants’ emotional state. Besides, their use of colour including the number of colours used, the utilization of disfavoured colours and the number of misplaced colours were examined. Results. Results showed that children with EBD tended to draw more EIs (Koppitz, 1968), depict a figure with an unhappy face, and use misplaced colours, compared to those without EBD. Remarkably, a relationship between the number of misplaced Colours and EIs was also found among the EBD children. However, regarding the number of colours used and the utilization of disfavoured colours in HFDs, no significant difference was observed between these 2 groups of participants. Conclusions. The results demonstrated that there was significant difference in HFDs and the use of misplaced colours between children who suffered from EBD and those who did not. Implications of HFDs with the use of colour in schools and clinical settings were discussed.