Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

6-1976

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Major Professor

Leonard Handler

Committee Members

William A. Poppen, Charles P. Cohen, Donna Horn

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the fantasies of normal and deviant males between the ages of 8 and 10 in order to determine if systematic differences exist between the two groups. Further, the study attempted to delineate differences between the two deviant subgroups: Withdrawn children and Acting-Out children. The fantasies were examined both in terms of structure and content.

Thirty boys were selected from the Fayette County, Ky. public school system on the basis of normal intelligence, average school performance, middle class socioeconomic status and freedom from overt behavior problems. These children formed the Normal group. The Deviant group was composed of thirty boys involved in psychotherapy at the two Knoxville, Tn. area community mental health centers, selected on the basis of similar criteria. Fifteen of these boys demonstrated primary "withdrawn" behaviors, and fifteen demonstrated "acting-out" behaviors. Spontaneous fantasy stories were collected from each of the children. These stories were rated by two graduate student raters on the Fantasy Rating Questionnaire. Ratings for the various groups or subgroups were then compiled and compared in relation to the hypotheses of the study.

Formal Hypothesis 1, which stated that Normal children would be rated higher than Deviant children on dimensions relating to cognitive maturity, was not supported by the results. Formal Hypothesis 2, which stated that Withdrawn children would be rated higher than Acting-Out children on these dimensions was also not supported. Formal Hypothesis 3 predicted that Acting-Out children would be rated higher on the "Range of Activity" scale and was supported. Formal Hypothesis 4, which stated that Normals would be rated higher than Deviant children on creativity, and Withdrawn children would be rated higher than Acting-Out children, was supported for the Normal-Deviant comparison but not for the Withdrawn-Acting-Out comparison. The three Theme Hypotheses were all supported by the results. Acting-Out children were found to have a higher frequency of themes of rage, revenge, victimization and aggression than did the other children. Themes reflecting socialization were more frequent among the Normal children, while themes centering in the self were more frequent among the Deviant children. Characterizations of authority or parent figures were more frequently positive in Normal children and negative in Deviant children. General Hypothesis 1, which stated that Normal children would produce longer stories than Deviant children and that Withdrawn children would produce longer stories than Acting-Out children, was supported for the Normal-Deviant comparison only. General Hypothesis 2 predicted that Normal children would produce more themes than Deviant children and that Withdrawn children would produce a higher number of themes than Acting-Out children. The differences were not significant for either comparison. General Hypothesis 3, which stated that the stories of Normal children would contain a higher number of characters than the Deviant children and that Withdrawn children would produce a higher number of characters than Acting-Out children, was supported for the Normal-Deviant comparison. The results were also summarized to make general statements about the fantasy productions of each of the groups of children examined.

The implications of these findings were discussed in relation to the literature and prior research. Discrepancies between expected and obtained results were examined and tentatively explained. The data were interpreted as they related to various theoretical issues including the relationship between fantasy and cognitive development, the role of fantasy for the individual, the relationship between fantasy and overt behavior, fantasy and psychopathology, and the nature of withdrawal and acting-out as examples of deviant behavior in children. A number of methodological alterations and suggestions for future research were made.

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