Preschool Drawing and School Mathematics: The Nature of the Association

The study examined the etiology of individual differences in early drawing and of its longitudinal association with school mathematics. Participants (N = 14,760), members of the Twins Early Development Study, were assessed on their ability to draw a human figure, including number of features, symmetry, and proportionality. Human figure drawing was moderately stable across 6 months (average r = 0.40). Individual differences in drawing at age 4½ were influenced by genetic (0.21), shared environmental (0.30), and nonshared environmental (0.49) factors. Drawing was related to later (age 12) mathematical ability (average r = 0.24). This association was explained by genetic and shared environmental factors that also influenced general intelligence. Some genetic factors, unrelated to intelligence, also contributed to individual differences in drawing.