Validity of the Draw a Person: A Quantitative Scoring System (DAP:QSS) for Clinically Evaluating Intelligence

• Published in: Child psychiatry and human development Vol. 52; no. 4; pp. 728 - 738
• Main Authors: Troncone, Alda, Chianese, Antonietta, Di Leva, Alfonso, Grasso, Maddalena, Cascella, Crescenzo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-08-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child and School Psychology; Children; Cognitive ability; Intellectual functioning; Intelligence; Matrices; Older children; Original; Original Article; Psychiatry; Psychology; Quantitative psychology; Validity; Draw a Person: A Quantitative Scoring System; Scholastic achievement; Children; Intelligence; Adolescents
• ISSN: 0009-398X; 1573-3327
• DOI: 10.1007/s10578-020-01058-6

To assess the psychometric properties of the Draw a Person: A Quantitative Scoring System (DAP:QSS), in 2543 children (
M
 = 11.43 ± 3.06 years), correlations between drawings scores and Raven’s Matrices scores, age, and academic achievement were examined. Although older children (> 11 years) obtained higher drawing scores than younger ones (
p
 < 0.001), age significantly correlated with DAP:QSS scores only in children younger than 11 years (
r
 = 0.493,
p
 < 0.001), indicating conflictive evidence for construct validity and a possible ceiling effect. No correlations emerged between DAP:QSS scores and grades (
r
 = 0.056,
p
 = 0
.
097). DAP:QSS scores were significantly associated with Raven’s Matrices score, but low correlation coefficients (0.156–0.498), low sensitivity (0.12), and high false negative (87.9%) and positive (82%) rates suggest poor DAP:QSS validity as an intelligence measure. The researchers concluded that DAP:QSS failed to produce a psychometrically sound assessment of children’s intellectual functioning.