The purpose of this study was to examine how a group art therapy program would affect the self-esteem and social skills of maladjusted children. The subjects in this study were 24 children who were selected from among 210 second graders in an elementa...
The purpose of this study was to examine how a group art therapy program would affect the self-esteem and social skills of maladjusted children. The subjects in this study were 24 children who were selected from among 210 second graders in an elementary school located in Onyang-eup, Ulsan. The selected children lagged behind in terms of self-esteem and social skills, and an experimental group and a control group were organized with 12 children each. A group art therapy was provided to the experimental group only, and both groups took tests in self-esteem and social skills before and after the experiment was conducted.
The instrument used to assess the self-esteem of the maladjusted children was Byeon MI-suk(2006)'s inventory that was modified in this study. As for evaluation of social skills, Mun Seong-weon(1996)'s adapted version of Social Skills Rating System(SSRS) was modified to be appropriate at the level of second graders. The findings of the study were as follows:
First, the group art therapy had a favorable impact on the self-esteem of the maladjusted children.
Second, the group art therapy exerted a favorable influence on the social skills of the maladjusted children.
The findings of the study illustrated that the art activities provided an opportunity for each of the maladjusted children to express themselves without any restraints and to be more receptive to themselves. The art activities especially opened a new chapter for the children who fell behind in terms of self-esteem and social skills. Therefore the group art therapy program could be utilized as one of universal ways to improve child guidance and personality education, and contribute to beefing up teacher-child ties.