Developmental characteristics of figure drawings made by boys and girls ages five through eleven

526 children from the ages of 5 yr. through 11 yr. (257 boys and 269 girls) responded when asked to draw the figure of a man. Of the 68 characteristics investigated the girls' responses were significantly different from the boys' on 41 items (60%) while boys' responses were significantly different on 28 items (41%). Although there were significant differences in some responses they were not necessarily indicative of higher levels of performance. Given the number of boys and girls participating and the number of significant differences, the over-all significant difference was 0. There were, however, many significant differences found in the drawings made by boys and girls ages 5, 6 and 9 yr.