Personality Profiles of Indian Children: An In-depth Exploration of Projective Responses

The present investigation probes into the personality profiles of Indian children (aged between 6–12 yrs.), by using a recently-developed projective test, the Fairy Tale Test (FTT), to detennine whether there exists any significant profile differences among children of different socio-economic strata. The need is felt to understand the role of the nitty-gritty's of socio-cultural context in moulding children's personality. Prevailing child-rearing practices appear to have an eminent influence in shaping the “selves” of young children. The sample consisted of 1082 children, randomly selected from schools in three different cities: Bangalore, Kolkata, and Delhi. They were divided into three age-groups: 6–7, 8–9, and 10–12 yrs of age. The socioeconomic status of the children's families was low, middle and high. Children belonged to different religions: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Key features of the Indian child's personality, having universal bearing on different families, have been found to be aggression (mostly hostile aggression, aggression as envy, oral aggression and instrumental aggression), anxiety (mainly deprivation, hann and punishment), depression and morality (functions of superego). Besides, significant profile differences of children in socio-economic status-wise categories have also been revealed. The study is of much relevance in understanding the “selves” of the Indian child, hailing from different socio-economic origins, on the basis of developmental platter.