According to one 1981 study, drawings in which a child exhibits a shift from age-appropriate figures to more disorganizes objects or drawings with "repeated stylized, sexualized figures indicate suspected sexual abuse" (Drawings pp). Some researchers recommend using drawings as part of the evaluative interview of abuse victims, while others believe that human figure drawings can be analyzed for emotional indicators in young children who cannot verbalize their trauma (Drawings pp). A 1996 study reveals that distress and trauma, including sexual abuse, is reflected in drawings that include such signs as: .

             "large heads, large, empty eyes, abundant hair, shaded .

             clouds, knotholes in trees, large hands, large heads, .

             large pointed teeth, abnormally tiny eyes, eyes without .

             pupils, crossed eyes, excessive details, box-shaped bodies, .

             poorly integrated body parts, lack of gender differentiation, .

             hair that is long at the sides or thinning at the crown, .

             wedge-shaped windows, extraneous circles, and large .

             smoke trails coming out of the chimney" (Drawings pp).

             However, researchers caution that trauma cannot be determined by a single characteristic, but rather from a series of drawings that include a number of these signs (Drawings pp). .

             Most studies conclude that the presence of genitalia is often viewed as a sign of sexual abuse because it is thought to be rare for normal, non-abused children to include genitals in their drawings, thus many researchers believe that the presence of genitalia in drawings means possible sexual abuse (Drawings pp). For example, it has been found that incest victims either exaggerate or minimize sexual features in their art work, suggesting that the child possesses sexual knowledge beyond his or her years (Drawing pp). However, empirical support for these claims is fairly weak, and most experts believe that other factors, such as family nudity, the birth of a sibling, or being exposed to an X-rated video may affect a child's tendency to include sexual details in a drawing (Drawings pp).