The psychological evaluation of child sexual abuse using the Louisville Behavior Checklist and Human Figure Drawing

Accurately detecting victims of child sexual abuse when physical evidence is lacking is a problem frequently faced by clinicians. This study investigated whether Human Figure Drawings and the Louisville Behavior Checklist could be used to accurately identify sexually abused children, mental health clinic-referred children, and community children. Discriminant function analysis indicated that the groups differed significantly on the measures. There was some misclassification of individual children on the basis of their checklist and drawing scores. Results suggested limited support for the Louisville Behavior Checklist but caution in using Human Figure Drawings in the assessment of sexual abuse.