The child’s affective relationships in the family and the classroom: a comparison of graphic representations

Abstract

Family and school are the first fundamental settings in which children’s affective, emotional, social and cognitive growth takes place. Two separate images of the child are formed in these two groups, the “filial” image and the “scholastic” image, which are inevitably merged with the personality of the child. This study aims to compare and evaluate the affective relationships experienced by children in the family and in the class, as observed through their drawings. The study involved 105 elementary school students (60 males, 45 females) from Piedmont, Italy, of whom 65 were in the first cycle (first and second grades) and 40 in the second cycle (fourth and fifth grades), and analyzed a total of 210 drawings. We found that there are graphic differences depending on the subjects’ gender and age group. Comparison between the findings that emerged from the Family Drawing and those from the Class Drawing pointed to common aspects and specific features of the depicted settings.