Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Sep 22;6(3):329-38.
doi: 10.5498/wjp.v6.i3.329.

Self-worth and psychological adjustment of obese children: An analysis through the Draw-A-Person

Giuseppe Scimeca  1 , Amelia Alborghetti  1 , Antonio Bruno  1 , Giulia Maria Troili  1 , Gianluca Pandolfo  1 , Maria Rosaria Anna Muscatello  1 , Rocco Antonio Zoccali  1
Affiliations

Self-worth and psychological adjustment of obese children: An analysis through the Draw-A-Person

Giuseppe Scimeca et al. World J Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Aim: To investigate psychopathological correlates of child obesity via the Draw-A-Person test (DAP).

Methods: The participants were 50 children with a mean age of 9.74 years. Body mass index (BMI) was used as a measure of body fat. Children were divided into normal (n = 17), overweight (n = 14) and obese (n = 19). Two qualitative methods of scoring the DAP based on an integrative approach were used to assess self-concept (ESW) and overall level of children's adjustment (EAC). A procedure for judging interpretative skills of clinicians was implemented before they evaluated children's drawings.

Results: As predicted by our hypothesis, BMI was negatively correlated with ESW, r (50) = -0.29, P < 0.05, but not with EAC, r (50) = - 0.08, P = ns. To evaluate the effect of gender, Pearson correlations were re-computed regrouping the sample accordingly: BMI and EAC reached a significant negative correlation in female subjects, r (24) = -0.36, P < 0.05, and a positive correlation in male subjects, r (26) = 0.37, P = < 0.05; negative correlation between BMI and ESW became stronger in females, r (24) = -0.51, P < 0.01 but not in males, whose correlation disappeared resulting not-significant, r (26) = -0.06, P = ns. No effect of age was found. Results indicate that obesity has a negative correlation exclusively on overall adjustment and self-concept in female children.

Conclusion: It was concluded that there is a negative bias toward females that reveals how the stigma of obesity is widespread in Western society.

Keywords: Draw a person; Draw-A-Person test; Obesity; Projective techniques; Psychopathology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have no proprietary, financial, professional or other personal interest of any nature in any product, service or company.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. World Health Organization. 2002. The European Health Report 2002; p. 38 [accessed 2006 May 7]. Available from: http://www.who.dk/eprise/main/who/progs/ehr/home.
    1. World Health Organization. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 1998. Obesity: Preventing and managing the global epidemic. - PubMed
    1. Troiano RP, Flegal KM, Kuczmarski RJ, Campbell SM, Johnson CL. Overweight prevalence and trends for children and adolescents. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 1963 to 1991. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1995;149:1085–1091. - PubMed
    1. Wang Y, Lobstein T. Worldwide trends in childhood overweight and obesity. Int J Pediatr Obes. 2006;1:11–25. - PubMed
    1. Must A, Strauss RS. Risks and consequences of childhood and adolescent obesity. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1999;23 Suppl 2:S2–11. - PubMed