Development of Internal Body Image from Childhood to Early Adolescence

Abstract

The study aimed at providing a psychogenetic characterization of the developmental patterns through which the graphic representations of the inside of the body progress, and at testing the developmental hypothesis of a progressive integration of genital parts into the internal body image. The drawings of the inside of the body by 360 children of both sexes and of age 5 to 10 yr., and by 213 early adolescents, boys and girls of ages 11 to 14 yr., were analyzed on the basis of a series of qualitative and quantitative criteria. The relationship between age and type of drawing corresponds to expectations in children and appears less linear for early adolescents. Further, data support the developmental process of integration of genitals into the body image and show differential aspects in boys and girls.