Indicators of sexual abuse in children's house, tree, person and kinetic family drawings

The sexual abuse of children is a national problem receiving attention from many sources. A major concern in this area is the detection of sexual abuse in children. Children often find it difficult to report abusive incidents, particularly if the abuser is a riend or family member. Can drawings be used to identify the victim of familial sex abuse or incest? Do certain indicators exist which will distinguish the sexually abused child from other children? These questions were investigated at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, during a twelve-month period, from May 1985 through May 1986.

House-Tree-Person and Kinetic Family Drawings were collected from thirty-one control subjects and seventeen children who had been victims of incest. The age ranged between six and nineteen years in the groups. The drawings of the two groups were analyzed by three raters for the presence or absence of fifteen indicators. The two groups were compared using a t-test and a significance level of .01 was chosen. A significant difference was found between the two groups.

This study shows that an objective scoring system is possible with high interrater reliability. Also, the indicators taken as a whole do discriminate between the two groups. Further research is required to develop an instrument that will accurately identify the sexually abused child.