Developmental analysis of human figure drawings in adolescence, young adulthood, and middle age

Analyzed 195 human figure drawings (HFDs) of adolescents, young adults, and middle-aged adults in terms of developmental differences in anxiety signs, grouped into aggressive-hostile and insecure-labile categories, and according to sex-role stereotype, as measured by the Broverman Sex-role Stereotype Scale. Adolescent males and females were significantly more likely to obtain more anxiety signs than the two adult groups, although young adults and middle-aged adults did not differ from one another in HFD performance. The most reliable sex difference was that males reveal significantly more aggressive-hostile indices in the HFDs relative to females; no significant sex differences were obtained for number of insecure-labile indices. The degree to which one has adopted a conventional sex-role stereotype was not predictive of anxiety sign differences in HFD performance for either sex or for any age group.