Trait Emotional Intelligence and draw-a-person emotional indicators: preliminary outcomes in children

Developed originally by Goodenough (1926), the Draw-A-Person test (DAP) is a projective drawing task that is often used in psychological assessments of children to develop hypotheses about the subject’s cognitive, developmental, and emotional functioning, as well as personality style. Given the link between the child's graphic activity and the expression of emotions, this work focuses on the DAP test as an expressive area intrinsically linked to both personality and emotions, as described by the trait Emotional Intelligence (EI) model (Petrides et al., 2007). Scholars has shown a link between trait EI (a constellation of emotional self-perceptions located at the lower levels of personality) and psychological health in adults, as well as in children, together with a strong association of the construct with expression of emotions which is crucial to experience and to the expression of behavior and thoughts, and it may be well-represented by children drawings. We assume that trait EI can be a reliable predictor of emotional expression revealed by the DAP test, over and above personality traits, as measured by the Big Five Questionnaire for Children (Barbaranelli et al., 2002). A self-report form to assess trait EI, a personality questionnaire and the DAP test were administered to a sample of 82 Italian children (51.2% females; Mage = 8.11; SD = 0.35). Data from hierarchical regression analysis support the hypothesis and suggest a predictive significant effect of trait EI on emotional indicators in children’s drawings (β = .36, p < .05). Moreover, the effect of the Big Five decreased and was no more significant when trait EI was entered into the model. Future investigations should replicate these results in larger samples and in cross-cultural settings, as children's drawings are partially reflective of their culture. Notwithstanding these limitations, our results may have practical implications particularly with respect to programs and policies addressing the prevention of emotional distress in children.