The Draw-a-Man Test: A 50-Year Perspective on Drawings Done by Black South African Children

Abstract

Human figure drawings done by 415 urban black children were compared with the figures of people drawn by children in 1938 and 1950. Though children from five to eight years of age showed no change in performance over the 50-year time-span, there was a significant improvement in the Goodenough scores obtained by contemporary children of school age in comparison with the historical samples. Whilst it is feasible that betterment of the wider social milieu of black people in South Africa may be associated with these changes, no significant relationships between Draw-a-Man scores and socio-economic status could be demonstrated for the older children in the 1988 sample. For this group, test performance showed some relationship with scholastic achievement. The Draw-a-Man test appears to have some validity as a general cognitive measure amongst local black children between the ages of five and eight years. The test seems to be unsuitable for children over eight years of age because, from this age onwards, it underestimates abilities to a marked extent.

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