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Creativity Research Journal
ISSN: 1040-0419 (Print) 1532-6934 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hcrj20
Sharpen Your Pencils: Preliminary Evidence that
Adult Coloring Reduces Depressive Symptoms and
Anxiety
Jayde A. M Flett, Celia Lie, Benjamin C Riordan, Laura M Thompson, Tamlin S
Conner & Harlene Hayne
To cite this article: Jayde A. M Flett, Celia Lie, Benjamin C Riordan, Laura M Thompson, Tamlin
S Conner & Harlene Hayne (2017) Sharpen Your Pencils: Preliminary Evidence that Adult Coloring
Reduces Depressive Symptoms and Anxiety, Creativity Research Journal, 29:4, 409-416, DOI:
10.1080/10400419.2017.1376505
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2017.1376505
Published online: 30 Oct 2017.
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Sharpen Your Pencils: Preliminary Evidence that Adult
Coloring Reduces Depressive Symptoms and Anxiety
Jayde A. M Flett, Celia Lie, Benjamin C Riordan, Laura M Thompson, Tamlin S Conner, and
Harlene Hayne
University of Otago
Adult coloring books have flooded the market with titles alluding to therapeutic value, yet it is
unclear whether they fulfil that promise. Here, we tested whether adult coloring was related to
improvements in psychological outcomes. Female university students (n= 104) were ran-
domly assigned to a coloring intervention or a logic-puzzle control group. Participants
completed an inventory of psychological measures (depressive symptoms, stress, anxiety,
flourishing, resilience, mindfulness) and then participated in a 1-week intervention of either
daily coloring or logic-puzzles. Following the intervention, participants again completed the
inventory of psychological measures. Coloring participants showed significantly lower levels
of depressive symptoms and anxiety after the intervention, but control participants did not. We
conclude that daily coloring can improve some negative psychological outcomes and that it
may provide an effective, inexpensive, and highly accessible self-help tool for nonclinical
samples.
Coloring in—once considered an activity for children—has
become a niche market for adults. In 2015, adult coloring
books featured heavily in the top adult nonfiction books
sold internationally, contributing to the 6.6% overall
increase in adult nonfiction book sales for the year
(Milliot, 2016). The prolific rise in adult coloring has con-
tributed to a global colored-pencil shortage, with Faber-
Castell (the world’s largest pencil manufacturer) reporting
a 10%+ increase in the sale of artists’pencils (Sims, 2016).
The introductions to these coloring books often allude to the
psychological benefits of adult coloring. Specifically, color-
ing books are often advertised as a form of art therapy, and
suggest that coloring will lead to greater mindfulness and
well-being, as well as a reduction in stress and anxiety.
Although researchers and art therapists have described the
benefits of the art-as-therapy approach for decades (e.g.,
Ulman & Dachinger, 1975), it is unclear whether adult
coloring books fulfil this promise. The aim of this study
was to test whether adult coloring books live up to the hype.
In general, art therapy refers to the use of art-based
activities (such as painting and drawing) to help individuals
overcome difficulties and to improve their general well-
being, often requiring the presence of a trained art therapist
(Ulman, 1975; Waller & Dalley, 1992). A fundamental
assumption of art therapy is that “the production of art can
have stress reducing or relaxing effects”(Bell & Robbins,
2007, p. 72). Despite claims that art therapy is effective,
evidence for its therapeutic value is mixed. On one hand, a
number of researchers have reported promising results of art
therapy. For example, Bell and Robbins (2007) found that
participants who spent 20 min freely drawing showed sig-
nificantly greater reductions in negative mood and anxiety
compared to those who merely viewed and sorted famous
art prints for the same period of time. Similarly, De Petrillo
and Winner (2005) found that participants induced in a
negative mood showed significant increases in positive
mood after drawing, compared to those who copied shapes
This research was funded by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor,
University of Otago. The authors thank artist, Jo Newsham, for the con-
tribution of her works for the purposes of this research study. This work
was supported by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, University of Otago.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest with respect to authorship or
publication of this article.
JF and CL co-conceived the study idea. JF and TC designed the
research and conducted the statistical analysis. JF, BR, and LT collected
the data. HH contributed direction for the article and provided funding for
the study. All authors contributed to the writing of this article and have
approved the final article.
Address Correspondence should be sent to Harlene Hayne, Department
of Psychology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New
Zealand. E-mail: hayne@psy.otago.ac.nz
CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL,29(4), 409–416, 2017
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1040-0419 print/1532-6934 online
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2017.1376505
Downloaded by [192.31.105.248] at 18:27 15 November 2017
or completed puzzles. In another small pilot study, art-mak-
ing (including coloring) was associated with a significant
reduction in both state and trait anxiety (Sandmire, Gorham,
Rankin, & Grimm, 2012). Finally, Diliberto-Macaluso and
Stubblefield (2015) found mood-enhancing effects of paint-
ing, but only when participants painted a still life or some-
thing that made them feel happy, and not when they painted
their current mood or completed a word puzzle. Despite
these positive results, other studies have found little ther-
apeutic difference between art production and simply view-
ing art (e.g., Abbott, Shanahan, & Neufeld, 2013; Boothby
& Robbins, 2011). Together, these studies provide conflict-
ing evidence that creating or producing art for short dura-
tions of time decreases stress and anxiety or improves
mood.
Although there has been a surge in the popularity of adult
coloring books, coloring as a form of art therapy is not an
entirely novel concept. The term coloring therapy was first
proposed by Belchamber as a technique combining art ther-
apy with meditation whereby individuals suspend their inner
dialogue to achieve respite from the cognitive demands of
everyday life, thus accessing a state of enhanced well-being
(Belchamber, 2007). More recently, the American Art
Therapy Association has stated that although coloring is
not art therapy per se, it does provide a safe-ground for
“controlled, contained use of art for self-soothing purposes”
whereby users can externalize their focus and redirect
unhealthy internal dialogue (Carolan & Betts, 2015). It has
also been suggested that coloring may be a manner of
achieving flow (Roston, 2016), and may bring on a mindful,
meditative, or attentive state (Curry & Kasser, 2005; Drake,
Searight, & Olson-Pupek, 2014; Carsley, Heath, &
Fajnerova, 2015; Muthard & Gilberston, 2016).
Despite statements about the therapeutic value of color-
ing, there is limited empirical evidence that coloring pre-
drawn images decreases stress and anxiety or elevates
mood. In one study designed to test the effect of coloring,
Curry and Kasser (2005) induced anxiety by asking under-
graduate students to write about a fearful experience.
Participants then colored a complex circular mandala draw-
ing, an irregular plaid design, or drew on a blank piece of
paper for 20 minutes. Curry and Kasser (2005) found a
greater reduction in anxiety among participants who colored
the mandala and plaid designs, compared to those who had
been instructed to draw freely. In a subsequent study, Van
Der Vennet and Serice (2012) found that coloring a man-
dala, but not a plaid design, had greater anxiety-reducing
effects than free drawing; other researchers have reported
that coloring a plaid design is more effective than coloring a
mandala (Drake et al., 2014). In contrast, when there was no
anxiety induction, Small (2006) found no effect of coloring
or drawing on anxiety; Muthard and Gilbertson (2016)
found anxiety reductions across all coloring and art-based
conditions.
To date, much of the research on coloring has limited
external validity. Previous studies have primarily investi-
gated the effects of a single coloring session on mood in a
laboratory setting, thus, limiting the generalizability of find-
ings to more realistic day-to-day settings in which coloring
is argued to be therapeutic. Furthermore, researchers have
predominantly examined improvements in anxiety exclu-
sively, notably induced anxiety, rather than including a
more comprehensive assessment of the impacts of coloring
on other psychological outcomes such as depression or
psychological well-being (but see Drake et al., 2014).
Moreover, given that coloring is commonly referred to as
a mindfulness or meditative-like activity (Drake et al., 2014;
Carsley et al., 2015; Muthard & Gilberston, 2016), it seems
surprising that previous studies have not incorporated mea-
sures of mindfulness into their design. Finally, to distinguish
the effect of coloring from the effects of other focussed
activity, it is also important that coloring is compared to
another, nonart-based, control activity.
In our study, we took adult coloring out of the laboratory
and into a more naturalistic setting to identify whether a 7-
day coloring intervention would generate short-term
improvements on a range of psychological outcomes includ-
ing depressive symptoms, stress, anxiety, resilience, flour-
ishing, and mindfulness. Participants were asked to either
color a series of complex pictures (coloring group) or to
engage in another focussed activity (logic-puzzle control
group) for at least 10 min each day, over a period of
7 days. We hypothesized that participants in the coloring
group would show overall improvements in psychological
outcomes from pre- to postintervention, but those in the
control puzzle group would not.
METHOD
Participants
We tested a convenience sample of 115 women between 18
and 38 years old (M= 19.73 years, SD = 2.29 years) from
the University of Otago. This sample provided 80% power
to detect a medium effect (d= .55) at p< .05. Our sample
size of 115 exceeds the median sample size for studies of
similar designs, for example, the median sample size in a
meta-analysis of positive psychology interventions was 32
and 64 per study for interventions targeting depression and
well-being, respectively (see Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009, for
meta-analysis). Participants were recruited until the end of
the academic semester through the Department of
Psychology’s online psychology research participation pool
or via e-mail from a database of previous studies’partici-
pants (n= 8). Participants who met inclusion criteria
(n= 104; discussed in the following) were largely of New
Zealand European descent (75%; 10.6% Asian; 7.7% Māori
410 J. A. M. FLETT ET AL.
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or Pacific Islander; 6.7% other) which generally reflected
the wider university community. Participants were allowed
to apply their participation in the study toward a small
component of their Introductory Psychology course grade
(n= 96) or they were entered into a $50 cash lottery (n= 8).
This study was approved by the Psychology Department
Ethics Committee (D15/289).
Materials
To minimize any differences in the demand characteristic
between the experimental and control activities, each par-
ticipant was given one of two booklets titled, Activities
forStressReduction, containing 10 pictures or puzzles
and a stationery pack that included pencils. Unlike many
of the previous coloring studies (e.g., Curry & Kasser,
2005;Small,2006; Van Der Vennet & Serice, 2012), we
chose a nonart based comparison activity to minimize any
effects that art may have in general (Abbott et al., 2013;
Boothby & Robbins, 2011). Participants in the control
group completed a daily puzzle activity; puzzles are
recognized as a common leisure activity that should take
the same amount of time, energy, and similar body move-
ments as coloring. In addition, puzzles have been used in
several previous art therapy research designs as a suitable
control condition (e.g., De Petrillo & Winner, 2005;
Diliberto-Macaluso & Stubblefield, 2015). Ten activities
were provided for the 7-day intervention in case partici-
pants completed more than one picture or puzzle in their
10-min time-slot per day.
Coloring
In the coloring booklet, there was an assortment of
original complex coloring pages, including abstract zentan-
gle style images, animal and nature motifs, and mandalas.
The coloring booklet was accompanied by a pencil sharp-
ener and a 12 pack of half-sized colored pencils (colors
included red, orange, yellow, peach, pink, purple, light
blue, dark blue, light green, dark green, brown, and black).
Logic Puzzles
In the logic puzzle booklet, there was an assortment of
puzzles including logic puzzles, Sudoku, word searches, and
reverse word searches. The logic puzzles booklet was
accompanied by a pencil sharpener, a full size Faber-
Castell 2.5HB lead pencil, and a small novelty eraser.
MEASURES
Activity Adherence
Daily adherence was assessed via an online daily survey
sent directly as a hyperlink to participants’mobile phones at
7 pm every day for 7 days. Participants were asked if they
had completed a session in their activity book today (yes/
no) and yesterday (yes/no), in case they completed the
activity after 7 pm on the previous day. This question was
embedded in a number of daily health measures not reported
on further in this article. We created an overall measure of
activity adherence as a sum (from 0 to 7 days completed).
Pre- and Post-Intervention Psychological Measures
Depressive Symptoms
Symptoms of depression were assessed using the Center
for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D;
Radloff, 1977). This 20-item questionnaire assesses how
participants have “felt and behaved”over the previous
2 weeks rated on a scale from 0 (rarely or none of the
time [< 1 day])to3(most or all of the time [5–7 days]),
for example “I was bothered by things that don’t usually
bother me.”Items were summed to create an overall score
ranging from 0 to 60, with higher scores indicating a
greater experiences of symptoms of depression. Although
we used the CES-D as a continuous measure, a cut-off of
16 or greater is frequently used to identify individuals
experiencing significant subthreshold symptoms of depres-
sion (Lewinsohn, Seeley, Roberts, & Allen, 1997).
Cronbach’sα=.90 and .91 at pre - and postintervention
respectively.
Stress
Perceived stress was assessed using the 10-item
Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen & Williamson, 1988).
Participants indicated how often they experienced 10 state-
ments (e.g., in the last month, how often have you felt
confident about your ability to handle your personal prob-
lems?) using a Likert scale from 0 (never)to4(very often).
Participants’responses were summed over the 10 items to
obtain an overall perceived stress score for each participant
ranging from 0 to 40. Higher scores indicated a higher
overall level of perceived stress. Cronbach’sα= .87 at pre
- and postintervention respectively.
Anxiety
Anxiety was assessed using the 7-item Hospital
Anxiety and Depression Scale–Anxiety Subscale
(Zigmond & Snaith, 1983). Participants indicated how
much they agreed with 7 statements over the past week
(e.g., I feel tense or ‘wound up’) using a Likert scale
from 0 (e.g., not at all)to3(e.g.,most of the time).
Participants’responses were summed over the 7 items to
obtain an overall stress score for each participant ran-
ging from 0 to 21. Higher scores indicated a higher
overall level of anxiety. Cronbach’sα=.80and.82at
pre - and postintervention respectively.
CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 411
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Resilience
Resilience was assessed using the 6-item, Brief
Resilience Scale (Smith et al., 2008). Participants indicated
how much they agreed with six statements (e.g., I tend to
bounce back quickly after hard times) using a Likert scale
from 1 (strongly disagree)to5(strongly agree).
Participants’responses were averaged over the six items to
obtain an overall resilience score for each participant ran-
ging from 1 to 5. Higher scores indicated a higher overall
level of resilience. Cronbach’sα= .92 and .89 at pre - and
postintervention respectively.
Flourishing
Flourishing was assessed using the 8-item Flourishing
Scale (Diener et al., 2010), a measure of perceived achieve-
ment in areas such as relationships, self-esteem, purpose,
and optimism that is commonly used as a proxy for overall
psychological well-being. Participants indicated how much
they agreed with eight statements (e.g., I lead a purposeful
and meaningful life) using a Likert scale from 1 (strongly
disagree)to7(strongly agree). Participants’responses were
summed over the eight items to obtain an overall flourishing
score for each participant ranging from 8 to 56. Higher
scores indicated a higher overall level of available psycho-
logical resources and strength. Cronbach’sα= .91 and .92 at
pre - and postintervention respectively.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness was assessed using the 12-item Cognitive
Affective Mindfulness Scale–Revised (Feldman, Hayes,
Kumar, Greeson, & Laurenceau, 2007). Participants indi-
cated how much each statement (e.g., It is easy for me to
concentrate on what I am doing) applied to them using a
Likert scale from 1 (rarely/not at all)to4(almost always).
Participants’responses were summed over the 12 items to
obtain an overall mindfulness score for each participant
ranging from 12 to 48. Higher scores indicated a higher
overall level of mindfulness. Cronbach’sα= .82 at pre - and
postintervention respectively.
Procedure
The procedure consisted of a brief 7-day randomized, con-
trolled trial.
Following informed consent, participants completed the
online preintervention surveys of basic demographic infor-
mation, depressive symptoms, stress, anxiety, resilience,
flourishing, and mindfulness in the laboratory (Time 1).
Starting the same day, they began a 7-day trial of their
randomly assigned activity (coloring n= 54; or logic puzzle
n= 50) during the course of their regular daily life. During
the intervention, participants were asked to complete a short
daily online survey (sent via SMS) of activity adherence,
mental health, stress, mindfulness, and flourishing.
Participants were also asked to complete a brief online
mood index after each coloring or puzzle activity, however,
for the purposes of this article, we only report on the activity
adherence. Following the 7-day trial, participants completed
an online postintervention survey that was sent to their
e-mail address (Time 2). This survey was identical to the
one they completed at Time 1 (excluding demographic
questions). All participants were debriefed about the nature
of the study via e-mail following the completion of their
Time 2 survey.
Of the 115 participants recruited to take part in the study,
104 participants met the minimum requirements to be
included in the analysis (having completed at least 3 days
of activities and the pre- and postintervention surveys).
These criteria were deemed appropriate as participants
included in the study completed, on average, 6.04 out of 7
daily smartphone surveys (SD = .99; range 3–7, a compli-
ance rate of 86%). Participants reported high activity adher-
ence overall, completing at least 10 minutes of their
assigned activity on 6.05 out of 7 days (SD = 1.03; range
3–7; activity adherence did not significantly differ between
coloring and puzzle groups, t(102) = 1.23, p= .2230).
Participants excluded from the study did not differ in
terms of demographics or pre-intervention outcome
measures.
RESULTS
Although age did not differ across the two groups (F(1,
102) = 0.07, p= .7971), ethnicity (χ
2
(1, n= 104) = 4.52,
p= .0335) and baseline mindfulness did (F(1, 102) = 6.34,
p= .0133). Moreover, all of the variables were strongly
correlated with themselves over time (rs ranged from .70
to .84).
Descriptive statistics and within-subjects t-tests for all pre-
and postintervention psychological variables for the coloring
group and for the puzzle group are shown in Tables 1 and 2,
respectively. As shown in Table 1 , participants in the coloring
group showed significant reductions in symptoms of depres-
sion, t(53) = 2.75, p=.0082, d= .32, 95% CI [.70, 4.45];
perceived stress, t(53) = 2.23, p=.0302, d= .19, 95% CI [.11,
2.15]; and anxiety, t(53) = 3.07, p= .0034, d=.28,95%CI
[.37, 1.75]; and increases in mindfulness, t(53) = 2.35,
p=.0227, d=.21,95%CI[−2.09, -.16]; following the
intervention, but they showed noimprovementsinresilience,
t(53) = 1.54, p=.1301, d= .14, 95% CI [−.26, .03]; or
flourishing, t(53) = 0.36, p= .7181, d= .03, 95% CI [−.75,
1.09]. When applying a more conservative Bonferroni correc-
tion of p< .0083 (.05/6 tests), only the reductions in depressive
symptoms and anxiety remained statistically significant. In
contrast, as shown in Tab le 2, participants in the puzzle
group showed no significant changes in psychological out-
comes except for an increase in mindfulness following the
412 J. A. M. FLETT ET AL.
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intervention, t(49) = 2.78, p=.008, d= .25, 95% CI [−2.34,
−.38], which remained statistically significant after applying
the Bonferroni correction of p< .0083.
Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed similar differ-
ences in the change between the two groups. Ethnicity and the
respective baseline scores were entered as covariates for each
postintervention outcome, with group (coloring vs. puzzles) as
the independent variable. The ANCOVA results indicated that
following the intervention, participants in the coloring group
experienced significantly fewer symptoms of depression, F
(1,100) = 6.00, p= .0160, η
p2
= .057; perceived stress, F
(1,100) = 4.10, p= .0456, η
p2
= .039; and anxiety,
F(1,100) = 4.58, p= .0348, η
p2
= .044, than did those in the
puzzle group when controlling for ethnicity and baseline scores.
But these differences were not statistically significant when
applying the more conservative Bonferroni correction of
p< .0083. The ANCOVA results further indicated no differences
between the coloring and puzzle groups following the interven-
tion on resilience, F(1,100) = .09, p= .7708, η
p2
= .001; flourish-
ing, F(1,100) = .37, p= .5438, η
p2
= .544; or mindfulness, F
(1,100) = .05, p= .8310, η
p2
< .001, when controlling for
ethnicity and baseline scores.
DISCUSSION
We investigated the impact of a 7-day coloring intervention
on female adults’psychological experiences. Following a
week of coloring, but not puzzling, participants reported
lower levels of depressive symptoms and anxiety. These
findings extend prior laboratory-based research where parti-
cipants reported reductions in anxiety or negative mood
following a single session of coloring (e.g., Curry &
Kasser, 2005; Van Der Vennet & Serice, 2012) by showing
that such effects extend into daily life. Interestingly, we
found no consistent impact of coloring on the psychological
well-being measures of resilience and flourishing. Although
those who colored showed a small increase in mindfulness,
the same was also true of those who completed puzzles, and
there was no statistically significant difference in mindful-
ness between the two groups.
Taken together, these findings bode well for the potential
psychological benefits of coloring. Although our study was
somewhat underpowered and the effect sizes for reductions in
depression and anxiety were small, they represent meaningful
changes, given the brevity and ease of implementation, and
TABLE 1
Descriptive statistics and paired t-test results comparing all psychological variables across Time 1 (pre-intervention) and Time 2 (post-interven-
tion) for participants in the coloring group
Time 1 Time 2
Outcome M SD M SD n % Change Cohens d
95% CI for
Mean Difference tdf
Depression 15.87 8.85 13.30 7.38 54 −16.19 .32 .70, 4.45 2.75** 53
Stress 17.33 5.81 16.20 6.04 54 −6.52 .19 .11, 2.15 2.23* 53
Anxiety 6.61 4.02 5.56 3.48 54 −15.89 .28 .37, 1.75 3.07** 53
Resilience 3.26 .84 3.37 .76 54 3.37 −.14 −.26, .03 −1.54 53
Flourishing 46.37 6.66 46.20 6.51 54 −.37 .03 −.75, 1.09 .36 53
Mindfulness 32.09 5.61 33.22 4.97 54 3.52 −.21 −2.09, -.16 −2.35* 53
Note:*p< .05, ** p< .01. pvalues based on two-tailed ttest. M= Mean; SD = Standard Deviation; CI = Confidence Interval of Time 1 - Time 2.
TABLE 2
Descriptive statistics and paired t-test results comparing all psychological variables across Time 1 (pre-intervention) and Time 2 (post-interven-
tion) for participants in the puzzle group
Time 1 Time 2
Outcome M SD M SD n % Change Cohens d
95% CI for
Mean Difference tdf
Depression 18.02 9.82 17.68 10.42 50 −1.89 .03 −1.82, 2.50 .32 49
Stress 19.20 5.66 19.36 6.37 50 .83 −.03 −1.42, 1.10 −.25 49
Anxiety 8.12 4.26 7.88 4.61 50 −2.96 .05 −.59, 1.07 .58 49
Resilience 3.10 .77 3.20 .78 50 3.23 −.13 −.21, .01 −1.89 49
Flourishing 44.98 6.60 44.64 7.46 50 −.76 .05 −.88, 1.56 .56 49
Mindfulness 29.35 5.45 30.71 5.53 50 4.63 −.25 −2.34, -.38 −2.78** 49
Note:*p< .05, ** p< .01. pvalues based on two-tailed ttest. M= Mean; SD = Standard Deviation; CI = Confidence Interval of Time 1 - Time 2.
CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 413
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mirror the results of other brief health interventions that have
been used in normative populations in naturalistic settings
(e.g., alcohol use, Riordan, Conner, Flett, & Scarf, 2015;
review of phone-based health and mental health interventions,
Heron & Smyth, 2010; meta-analysis of positive psychology
interventions, Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009). Likewise, our effect
sizes were consistent with those found in meta-analyses of
low-severity depressed populations receiving psychological
treatment (e.g., d= .22 using cognitive behavioural therapy
[CBT], behavioural activation therapy etc., Driessen, Cuijpers,
Hollon, & Dekker, 2010), anti-depressant medication (esti-
mated d= < .20; Fournier et al., 2010), or combined treatment
(d= .31; Cuijpers, Dekker, Hollon, & Andersson, 2009).
These findings raise a number of additional questions,
including questions about the mechanism responsible for the
decrease in ill-being in the coloring group. For example, it is
often suggested that coloring induces a mindful or medita-
tive state (Curry & Kasser, 2005; Drake et al., 2014; Carsley
et al., 2015; Muthard & Gilberston, 2016), a state of flow
(Roston, 2016), and that it is linked to reduced activity in
the amygdala (Michaelis, 2015) or changes in brain wave
activity (Carter, 2015). Although we found some improve-
ments in mindfulness in the coloring group, the same was
true of the logic-puzzle group, which suggests that mind-
fulness is not the driving factor behind the improvements to
depressive symptoms and anxiety in the coloring group.
When looking at this from a Langerian perspective, coloring
within the lines is a safe and rule-governed act that doesn’t
favor novel creation and, thus, coloring could be character-
ized as a mindless act, rather than a mindful one (Bercovitz,
Pagnini, Phillips, & Langer, 2017; Langer, 1989; Pirson,
Langer, Bodner, & Zilcha, 2012). Nevertheless, further
research is necessary to understand the relationship between
coloring, mindfulness, and mindlessness. In contrast,
Flach’s(1990) suggestion that small acts of everyday crea-
tivity can enable one to overcome psychological stressors is
consistent with our findings. Perhaps, then, coloring could
be considered an act of everyday, of little c, creativity in
much the same way as gardening or gourmet cooking
(Richards, 1990,2010). With its low risk and accessibility,
coloring could represent a good entry-point to engaging in
everyday creative behaviors. Although additional research is
needed to identify the mechanisms responsible for the men-
tal benefits of effects of coloring, we would feel comfortable
adding coloring to the growing list of creative activities for
improving mental outcomes (Forgeard & Eichner, 2014).
On the basis of this 7-day intervention, participants did
not report a change in resilience or flourishing. In hindsight,
this finding is not surprising. In previous studies, researchers
have found that improvements in well-being, particularly
trait well-being, are extremely difficult to achieve
(Challen, Machin, & Gillham, 2014; Weiss, Westerhof, &
Bohlmeijer, 2016). Whether more intensive and long-term
intervention with coloring can contribute to improvements
in measures such as resilience or flourishing is another
question for future research.
Finally, we acknowledge several limitations. Our sample was
restricted to a nonclinical sample of female college students,
limiting our ability to generalize these findings beyond this
particular population. Although additional research is required
to assess the generalizability of our effects, in the past, research-
ers have found no effect of gender for coloring on anxiety (child
population: Carsley et al., 2015; adult population: Sandmire
et al., 2012) and the majority of coloring books are sold to
women (Mulholland, 2014). Nevertheless, in the future,
researchers should include men and nonstudent populations.
Future research could also include a longer intervention period
using alternative forms of the pre- and postintervention assess-
ments to reduce method variance. The fact that we administered
the same measures 1 week apart could have contributed to
greater stability over time. Further, although we labelled both
booklets as Activities for Stress Reduction, participants may have
still expected that coloring would impact their psychological
well-being due to the current marketing hype surrounding
adult coloring books. This seems unlikely, however, given that
wefoundnosignificant improvements in two out of the three
psychological well-being measures (i.e., resilience and flourish-
ing from baseline to postintervention). Last, our participants
reported low to moderate baseline levels of depression, stress,
and anxiety. In general, the benefit of psychological treatment
increases when the severity of symptoms is higher (e.g., psycho-
logical treatment for high-severity depressed populations d=.63
vs. low-severity d=.22;Driessenetal.,2010), but those with
high-severity baseline depression benefit from some low-inten-
sity interventions (e.g., online CBT) at least as much as those
with low-severity baseline depression (Bower et al., 2013). On
this basis, we might predict that our effects would be the same or
larger in a clinically-depressed population. This prediction
remains to be tested.
In conclusion, this study represents the first empirical exam-
ination of a week-long coloring intervention on psychological
outcomes in daily life. This preliminary investigation suggests
that coloring is associated with small, short-term improve-
ments in depressive symptoms and anxiety. Although there
was a small improvement in mindfulness in the coloring group,
the same was also true in the puzzle activity control group,
suggesting that the increase in mindfulness was not the driving
factor behind the psychological improvements. Although addi-
tional research is warranted, we conclude that there may be
some validity to the notion that coloring has therapeutic value
which is not limited to child’splay.
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