Effectiveness of mindfulness-based coloring for university students' test anxiety.

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 = 167; 81.4% female; Mage = 21.29 years, SD = 4.46) were randomly assigned to a mandala (n = 57), free draw/coloring (n = 58), or noncoloring condition (n = 52). Methods: Participants completed standardized measures assessing test anxiety and state mindfulness pre-postactivity before completing a test, and two dispositional mindfulness measures. Results: Participants in both coloring conditions reported significant decreases in test anxiety and significant increases in state mindfulness pre-postintervention, and participants in the control condition reported significant increases in test anxiety. Reports of preintervention state mindfulness and test anxiety fully mediated relations between dispositional mindfulness and postintervention state mindfulness and test anxiety. Conclusions: Implications for research and practice on mindfulness coloring and test anxiety are discussed.

The Relationship Between Mindfulness, Depressive Symptoms, and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Amongst Adolescents.

Mindfulness is often part of treatment for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI); however, there has been limited research examining the role of mindfulness in NSSI. Thus, the current study sought to investigate the relationship among mindfulness, depressive symptoms, and NSSI (past year) in adolescents (N = 764; 56.8% female, M age = 14.42, SD = 0.64) with consideration of gender. Adolescents with recent NSSI (n = 74; 83.8% female, M age = 14.36, SD = 0.56) and a matched for age and gender no-NSSI group completed measures of mindfulness and depression. Findings revealed that mindfulness and depressive symptoms were negatively correlated, although significantly less so for the NSSI group. Second, the NSSI group reported greater depressive symptoms and less mindfulness. Finally, mindfulness was found to partially mediate the effect of depressive symptoms on NSSI. The present study is the first to provide empirical support for the protective role of mindfulness in NSSI.