The Human Figure Drawing (HFD) is one of the most known and employed techniques of psychological evaluation in Brazil, informing body image characteristics of individuals, a currently relevant issue in which body image representation has assumed a great social importance. In this context, body image representation, expressed through the HFD (proposed by Machover), was evaluated in adults with distinct body mass indexes (BMI). Participants included 120 healthy volunteers, from 18 to 55 years of age, males and females, resident in Ribeirão Preto (SP), and classified in four groups of BMI (underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese). The drawings were classified by independent judges, by adopting the system proposed by Van Kolck. The results indicate few meaningful differences among the evaluated items of the HFD and the distinct groups of BMI, indicating informative limits in the investigation of body image of adults through this technique.
Human Figure Drawing (HFD); body image; psychological evaluation
