Mothers’ perceptions of their relationships with their children and their responses to joint drawings

Although the association between parental relationships with their children and creative output is one of the basic tenets of therapeutic work in dyadic art therapy, this assumption has rarely been examined experimentally. This study was designed to explore associations between mothers’ perceptions of their relationships with their children and their responses to a joint drawing task. Seventy-four dyads composed of mothers and their 6–9-year-olds created joint drawings. The mothers then filled out the Art-Based Intervention Questionnaire (ABI) and the Relations with Father/Mother Questionnaire (RFMQ) to assess responses to their drawing experience and perceptions of their relationship with their child. The findings showed that mothers who had a more positive perception of their relationship with their daughter also had a more positive experience in the joint drawing activity, whereas no such correlations were found for mother–son relationships.