Objective:: This exploratory study examined the discriminant validity of 10 human-figure features commonly used by many proponents of the draw-a-person (DAP) projective technique as evidence of childhood sexual abuse. Two exploratory features were also examined. Method:: Rather than drawing human figures, 64 children (M=8 years, 9 months),…

This paper reviews the literature on projective drawing tests and child sexual abuse, focusing on children's drawings as an associative tool for memory. The use of the event drawing series, which is a series of seven drawings by a child that graphically present the child's thinking about a specific event, is discussed. (JDD)

This study found that, although the mental representations of 20 sexually abused and 20 physically abused females (ages 7-12) did not differ, the internal images of the abused groups differed from images of 20 nonabused but distressed children. Thus it is abuse, and not simply family distress, that results in impaired object relations. (Author/JDD)