Characteristics of Baum Test Drawings of Athletes: An Examination of Differences by Competition Level, Gender, and Development

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to perform individual Baum tests with high school, university, and working (hereinafter referred to as adult) elite athletes and to compare the characteristics of their drawings based on differences in gender, development, and competition level. Participants included 65 individual-sports athletes who participated in world competitions and 41 athletes who participated in prefectural competitions, making a total of 105 participants.

Gender differences in development were examined, and it was found that males were more likely (p=.0527). Additionally, developmental differences were observed in men. Moreover, adult athletes were more likely to draw roots compared with high school (p=.0116) and university athletes (p=.0239). University athletes tended to draw ground lines more than high school athletes (p=.0435), but the trunk on the edge of the page was more often drawn by high school athletes compared with university and adult athletes (p=.0064). Regarding competition level differences in development, adult athletes tended to depict roots more often than elite high school (p=.0527) and elite university (p=.0020) athletes. Ground lines were drawn less often by elite high school athletes compared to elite university (p=.0069) and adult (p=.0218) athletes, but there were more elite high school athletes than elite university athletes (p=.0635) and adults (p=.0457) athletes who drew the trunk on the edge of the page. In addition, elite adult athletes were more likely to draw an upper edge protrusion compared with elite university athletes (p=.0300).

The above results suggest that as athletes developed, their tendency to depict roots increased, and so did their proactive approach, the tendency not to show signs of worry even when they experienced it, their strong, instinctive, and unconscious energy, and their desire for stability.