A Study of Developmental Object Relations in Nail Biting Children

Nail biting has always been a matter of concern for the usually not for the psychological reasons, but it being a socially repulsive activity. Researches have brought into the various dimensions of the problem, like, dental complexities due to nail biting, personality structure and traits making an individual vulnerable to the problem. The present study aims to analyze developmental object relations of the nail biters. The study will help in revealing and creating insight in the internalization of object relations of nail biters. A sample of 20(10 nail biters and 10 normal) children of 10-12years was purposively taken of both the sexes. DORS, a RIBT measure was employed on the Rorschach responses of the nail biting and normal children. The results revealed that 40% of the nail biting children had attained autonomy and on the other hand, 80% of the normal children have achieved autonomy. Remaining 60% nail biting children revealed dependency, rapprochement, differentiating/practicing and fluctuation from autonomy to differentiating/practicing categories of object relations.