The joint painting procedure to assess implicit aspects of the mother-child relationship in middle childhood

This brief report describes a preliminary study that examined the association between implicit aspects of parent-child relationships as assessed by the Joint Painting Procedure (JPP) and self-report measures of the quality of mother-child relations and children's adjustment at home and at school as reported by the mothers. Forty mother-child dyads participated in the study. The JPP scales that assessed monitoring and positive close relationships were associated with similar dimensions from the self-report questionnaires. Associations between JPP measures of relationship with acting-out problems and learning difficulties also were found. The results highlight the differences between implicit and explicit aspects of parent-child relationships and the importance of evaluating both in psychotherapy and art therapy treatment.