The “Violence” Phenomena Reflected on Drawings of School- Age Children in North Cyprus

Abstract

To understand emotional experiences of the children and identify their  psychosocial  needs    studying their drawings is  one of the  significant methods.Children are an important group  who are  exposed  to violence  in various ways  in the family, at school, in virtual environment, via television, in their country, in health system. Research sample is a group of  10-11 years old girl and boys at public and private school.The violence phenomena  reflected in the paintigs are mostly  experienced  in the  family and among children.In general,  physical and verbal violence are described.In paintings  violence  perpetrators are mostly adult males.  50% of victims are  female, 46,4 % of are male, 57% of victims are children and 39.2% of  are adults. In drawings of children in private schools violence phenomena is mostly pictured at parks and garden area. In drawings of children in public school the violence is pictured in their homes besides park and garden area. The children at public school pictured more tools of violence (gun, knife) in their drawings. The majority of children who draw guns are girls. In drawings of children in public school human figures are stick figures and incomplete, in the drawings of children at private school the human figures are mostly pictured in details. Based on the results we can assume that the public schools in North Cyprus need to be improved academically and in both public and private schools the psychological counselling and guidance departments need to be developed and supported. In this study the analysis of drawings emphasize the children’s perception or experience of violence and also reflect the children’s problems with the adults and give clues about the solutions of these problems. The  gathered results contribute to understanding the emotional and social level of the children in Northern Cyprus.