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Article History

Received: 9 February 2025

Accepted: 27 February 2026

First Online: 13 March 2026

Competing interests

: The author declares no competing interests.

: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Data collection was authorized in advance by the principals of all participating Catholic institutions, and written informed consent was obtained from the parents or legal guardians of all student participants prior to data collection. Formal ethical review was subsequently conducted by the Research Ethics Committee of Eszterházy Károly Catholic University (Protocol code: RK/1593/2024; Date of approval: 11 December 2024). The scope of the ethical approval encompassed the entirety of the study's methodology, including the collection of the students' drawings and questionnaire responses, the anonymized data processing, and the publication of the results. The retrospective timing of the formal approval was due to the unavailability of the Ethics Committee during the summer recess, followed by an extended processing period attributable to the Committee's high caseload. Given that institutional authorization and full parental consent had been secured prior to data collection, and that the study involved no procedures beyond standard classroom activities, data collection proceeded in accordance with established ethical principles while formal committee approval was pending.

: Written informed consent was obtained from the parents or legal guardians of all minor participants prior to their involvement in the study. The written consent forms were distributed and collected by the classroom teachers at the participating schools (either during parent-teacher conferences or sent home with the students). The logistical coordination with the schools and the collection of the signed forms from the teachers were managed by a research assistant (Péter G. Molnár), who subsequently delivered them to the principal investigator (Mátyás Turós). Consent was obtained in two distinct periods corresponding to the data collection waves. For the first wave (June 2024), consent forms were signed and collected approximately between May 1, 2024, and June 15, 2024, consistent with the timeline of institutional recruitment (initiated on April 18, 2024) and data collection. For the second wave (September 2024), the consent forms were signed and collected between September 1, 2024, and November 7, 2024. The written forms provided full details to the parents/guardians regarding why the research was being conducted (to study the visual representations of God and their correlations with background variables), how the data would be utilised, and explicitly stated that there were no risks associated with participation. The forms included clear information regarding the anonymous and voluntary nature of participation, as well as notification that anonymized drawings and questionnaire data would be deposited in a publicly accessible scientific repository. Furthermore, before data collection commenced, the teachers verbally informed the student participants about the study's purpose, their assured anonymity, the lack of any risks, and the strictly voluntary nature of the task.