Drawing Characteristics Associated with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children: Findings from the...

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Psychometric Testing

Background:

• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder affecting children.
• The Synthetic House-Tree-Person (S-HTP) test is a projective drawing technique used to assess psychological functioning.
• Understanding drawing characteristics associated with ADHD can offer novel diagnostic and assessment tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate specific drawing characteristics in the S-HTP test among children diagnosed with ADHD.
• To explore the relationship between these drawing characteristics and the severity of ADHD symptoms.
• To identify potential drawing markers for ADHD diagnosis.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 60 children (30 with ADHD, 30 controls), aged 7-11, completed the S-HTP test and SNAP-IV scale.
• Drawing features were systematically coded by two independent raters.
• Statistical analyses included chi-square, rank-sum tests, logistic regression, and ROC analyses, with FDR correction and bootstrap validation.

Main Results:

• Five drawing characteristics remained significant after FDR correction when comparing ADHD and control groups.
• Three specific characteristics (A3: shaky lines, A4: jagged lines, A8: >7 colors) were significantly associated with ADHD status after covariate adjustment.
• A combined model using these characteristics achieved an AUC of 0.835, indicating good discriminatory power.

Conclusions:

• Certain S-HTP drawing features are significantly associated with ADHD status and symptom severity in children.
• Drawing characteristics A3, A4, and A8 show promise as potential indicators for ADHD.
• Further research with larger, externally validated samples is needed to confirm clinical utility.