Psychological Differentiation in Passively Oriented Children

Abstract

Level of psychological differentiation was investigated in boys ( N = 30) categorized as Passive-Aggressive or Normal, and subdivided into two age groups: 6 to 8 and 10 to 12 yr. old. Differentiation was defined in terms of two instruments developed by Witkin, the Children's Embedded Figures Test, and the Sophistication of Body-concept Scale used with human figure drawings. Significantly lower levels of differentiation were observed for Passive-Aggressive Ss over Normal Ss and for younger Ss over older Ss.