Object relations representations on the Rorschach: Parental and family relationships of school refusers.
Item
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Title
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Object relations representations on the Rorschach: Parental and family relationships of school refusers.
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Identifier
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AAI9325117
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identifier
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9325117
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Creator
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Kuhn, Andrew E.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Steven Tuber
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Date
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1993
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical
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Abstract
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Examined the object relations representations, family functioning, psychopathology, and parental relationships of 42 urban school refusers, ages 9 to 17. As predicted, subjects' Rorschachs, assessed with Urist's Mutuality of Autonomy Scale (MOAS), had more malevolent object representations than did a nonclinical sample. Unexpectedly, Blatt's Developmental Analysis of the Concept of the Object Scale (DACOS) did not differentiate older from young school refusers. Of 18 hospital day-treatment subjects assessed with a semi-structured interview, 12 met criteria for Separation Anxiety Disorder, 7 for Major Depression. Two did not meet criteria for any diagnosis. By contrast, of 15 high school age subjects in a public school program for school refusers assessed with the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), only 5 met criteria for "caseness." On nine dimensions of the Family Environment Scale (FES), means of the school refuser sample did not differ by more than one standard deviation from population norms; sample families were rated relatively high in moral-religious orientation and conflict, lower in expressiveness, active-recreational orientation, and independence. For the high school refusing sample, on the Parental Bonding Instrument, maternal care and overprotection were negatively correlated (r = {dollar}-{dollar}.75, p {dollar}<{dollar}.002). Low maternal care ratings correlated significantly with poor form object representations (r = {dollar}-{dollar}.56, p {dollar}<{dollar}.05); thought disorder on the Rorschach (r =.56, p {dollar}<{dollar}.05); FES variables conflict (r =.65, p {dollar}<{dollar}.02) and organization (r = {dollar}-{dollar}.55, p {dollar}<{dollar}.05); and overall psychopathological distress on the BSI (r =.71, p {dollar}<{dollar}.01). There were no significant results for paternal PBI variables. Results are discussed in terms of attachment theory, reciprocal effects of relational, family, and psychopathological variables, and the development of object relations representations. A full Rorschach record is reproduced and clinically assessed from various object relational perspectives.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
