Objective: This study compared the effectiveness of mindfulness coloring (mandala), free drawing/coloring, and a noncoloring control activity for university students' test anxiety, and assessed the relationship of dispositional mindfulness and response to intervention on mindfulness and test anxiety states. Participants: University students (n =…

This experimental study examined the validity of 3 underlying mechanisms that have been proposed in the research literature to explain the anxiety-reducing effect of coloring mandalas: distraction, structure, and centering. Four conditions were tested: (a) freely coloring a mandala, (b) coloring a mandala with preset colors, (c) freely drawing a…

This study tested whether the structure of a coloring task has an effect on anxiety, mood, and perseverance. Eighty-five undergraduate students were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 coloring conditions: free choice, where they could color an image using any colors they wanted, and forced choice, where they were instructed to copy the colors of a…

This experimental study replicated Curry and Kasser's (2005) research that tested whether coloring a mandala would reduce anxiety. After inducing an anxious mood via a writing activity, participants were randomly assigned to three groups that colored either on a mandala design, on a plaid design, or on a blank paper. Anxiety level was measured…

The purpose of this single-subject experiment was to test whether a link exists between emotional state and color usage in a common art therapy technique. The researchers hypothesized that when coloring a pre-drawn mandala, participants would choose warm colors when they were anxious and cool colors when they were calm. The non-random sample…