The Self-Figure Drawing Emotional Abuse Index: A Preliminary Convergent Validity Study with Teacher-Reported Neglect and Psychological Adjustment in Italian Children

Background/Objectives: Emotional abuse and neglect remain comparatively understudied forms of child maltreatment, and non-verbal screening tools such as the Self-Figure Drawing (SFD) have rarely been examined outside their original cultural contexts. This study provided a preliminary test of the convergent validity of the SFD emotional abuse (EA) index with independent teacher-report indicators of neglect and psychological adjustment in an Italian community sample. Methods: Participants were 392 Italian children aged 8–10 years. Children completed a Self-Figure Drawing, which was coded for emotional abuse indicators by two trained independent raters blind to teacher reports; teachers completed a neglect scale and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), whose Total Difficulties score was used as an indicator of global psychological difficulties (higher scores indicated poorer adjustment). Results: A total of 14.3% of children met SFD criteria for emotional abuse. Correlational analyses showed that the EA index was significantly, albeit modestly, associated with both teacher-reported neglect and the SDQ Total Difficulties score, indicating that children with more pronounced emotional abuse indicators on their drawings were also rated by teachers as more neglected and as showing greater overall psychological difficulty. Conclusions: These findings offer preliminary evidence that the SFD emotional abuse index converges with independent, informant-based indicators of maltreatment and psychological difficulties in an Italian community sample. Implications for the use of projective drawing measures in school-based screening for emotional abuse, and directions for further validation of the SFD in Italian samples, are discussed.