(11) Lohn, T. (2015). Schema of family: A developmental comparison of kinetic family drawings. Papers infancia_c nº 11, 1-13. Download: (pdf)
The purpose of the current study was to examine the developmental differences between children in the fourth grade and adolescents in the eighth grade on their schema of family as portrayed in their drawings. The Kinetic-Family-Drawings assessment (KFD) was used to view the relationship and interaction between the child and their parents. Drawings were collected from 45 children it consisted of 22 females and 23 males (28 fourth graders and 17 eighth graders). Each child and/or adolescent drew a family doing something. The results indicated that the size of the human figure drawn was a significant finding. Furthermore, the results for the additional three hypotheses indicated strong trends and the direction of differences when they occurred were as hypothesized. Fourth graders on average displayed a greater number of smiles and joint activity, as well as, less distance between themselves and their closest parent, in relation to eighth graders. As predicted the ways in which children and adolescents portray themselves within their family differs at each age of development and thus adds to previous developmental research.