[Oral and written affective expression in children of low socioeconomic status]

Descriptive data on affective expression of 58 children (33 girls and 25 boys) of low socioeconomic status (Graffar index), with ages between 8 and 12 are presented. Intelligence was assessed by means of Raven Progressive Matrixes Test, all subjects exhibiting mean level. Evaluated were the six forms of anxiety and the four hostility forms defined by the Gottschalk method of verbal content analysis. Hope scores, positive and negative, were also obtained from the same verbal samples. The oral sample consisted in speech produced spontaneously during 5 minutes, in response to a standard instruction, and the written sample consisted in brief stories produced under standardized conditions during 15 minutes. The most frequently expressed form of anxiety was separation anxiety, while the most frequently expressed form of hostility was directed outwards covert hostility. "Positive" hope was expressed more frequently than "negative" hope. Data are discussed in terms of their contribution to the establishment of population norms in Spanish-speaking populations for the psychological constructs explored. It is concluded that the method of content analysis of verbal behavior may represent a useful tool for the study of child psychology in different contexts.