Measuring the Validitiy of F.E.A.T.S. Using the Apple Tree Projective Drawing to Assess Self-Esteem in Adolescents
Graduation Date
Summer 1997
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy
Degree Granting Institution
Notre Dame de Namur University
Program Name
Art Therapy
Abstract
Thirty two high school freshmen males and females partook in this correlational study. They were first administered the Coopersmith Self Esteem Inventory - School Form (SEI-SF) to determine their levels of global self-esteem and were then provided art materials and asked to “draw a person picking an apple from a tree” (Apple Tree Drawing). The drawings were scored by two raters using the Formal Element Art Therapy Scale (FEATS),
(Linda Gantt, 1990), an objective, valid and reliable instrument which measures various elements of form and content, such as the prominence of color, energy, line quality and the amount of detail in the environment among others. FEATS scores were correlated individually and collectively to the SEI-SF. As a whole, females scored lower than males on the SEI-SF but higher than males on the FEATS and their scores correlated more significantly to the SEI-SF than males on most variables studied. Based on scores ranging from 36 to 96, three levels of self-esteem were established. High self- esteem (HSE)- 77-96, moderate self-esteem (MSE): 57-76, low self- esteem (LSE): 36-56. The drawings of LSE individuals tended to possess less colors in the whole drawing, less details in the environment, inferior line quality, less implied energy and less space was used on the paper. The persons drawn by LSE individuals were more impoverished, sometimes mildly distorted and contained less color and affect than the persons belonging to the MSE and HSE individuals.