Research – Emma Palmer-Cooper

There’s a lot of discussion about the effects of screen time on young people’s mental health. While excessive use of digital technology can sometimes be linked to poorer wellbeing, the evidence suggests that much of this relationship is driven by specific activities, particularly social media, rather than a blanket measure of screen use. At the same time, digital tools are increasingly being used to support young people’s wellbeing because they are accessible, affordable, and fit well with how many young people prefer to engage with support.

This is particularly relevant for university students. Many experience a decline in wellbeing when they move into higher education, often due to reduced social support and the related challenges of adapting to their new environment and independence. More than 30% of students meet clinical thresholds for symptoms of anxiety or depression, highlighting the need for simple, scalable ways to support wellbeing.

Building on our previous research showing benefits of mindful colouring, we wanted to know whether colouring digitally was as effective as colouring on paper. Digital colouring could offer a more accessible option, allowing people to engage in wellbeing activities wherever they are, using devices they already own. Previous studies have suggested that digital colouring can reduce anxiety and support mindfulness, but little was known about its effects over a longer period.

We asked 297 university students to complete at least six sessions of mindful colouring over two weeks, spending a minimum of ten minutes colouring each time. Some used paper materials and others used digital colouring apps.

We found that students who completed the colouring intervention reported lower perceptions of stress, and fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety, alongside higher mindfulness and quality of life. The largest improvements were seen in psychological and emotional wellbeing, along with personal fulfilment, overall quality of life, social-emotional support, spiritual fulfilment, and self-care. Together, these findings suggest that mindful colouring can support both psychological and to a degree also social wellbeing outside formal therapeutic settings.

Importantly, improvements were similar whether students coloured on paper or digitally. Students who started the study with lower wellbeing tended to experience the greatest benefits.

Our findings show that not all screen time is equal. Digital activities that encourage focus, mindfulness, and engagement with the present moment may offer benefits rather than risks. Digital colouring appears to be a practical and accessible way to support student wellbeing, particularly for people who may be less likely to seek formal support.

That said, colouring is not a solution to every aspect of student wellbeing. While it can help individuals manage stress and improve wellbeing, it cannot address broader challenges such as loneliness, social connection, or the pressures of university life on its own. We therefore see mindful colouring as one useful tool within a wider wellbeing strategy, rather than a replacement for other forms of support.

You can read the full paper here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09638237.2026.2732896

Our previous paper on paper colouring is here: https://doi.org/10.1080/17533015.2024.2419921

Photo by Allan Gonzu00e1lez on Pexels.com

Autistic people are more likely to experience symptoms linked to psychosis. Our new research, published in the British Journal of Clinical Psychology, brings together findings from over 60 studies to explore why this happens, and whether the tools we use to measure these conditions are fit for purpose.

What We Did

We reviewed 63 studies involving nearly 7 million people (N = 6,903,960). We examined whether the link between autism and psychosis holds up, and whether the way these conditions are measured affects the results.

What We Found

An autistic person is about 7 times more likely to be diagnosed with a psychotic disorder than someone without autism (and vice versa).
Autistic people were more likely to score higher on psychosis-related traits, and people with psychosis scored higher on autism-related traits compared to the general population with neither diagnosis.
Traits like social withdrawal and reduced emotional expression (known as “negative symptoms” in psychosis) were most strongly linked to autistic traits. Traits like hallucinations or delusions (“positive symptoms”) were linked too, but less strongly.

Why It Matters

Understanding this overlap is crucial, especially in clinical settings. Misdiagnosis can lead to the wrong treatment and lack of support. We suggest that some tools used to measure psychosis may not work well for autistic people. This could be because certain traits overlap between autism and psychosis, or because some questionnaire items don’t clearly separate autistic from psychosis-like traits. For autistic individuals, who often interpret language very literally, this can be a problem when similar wording is used to describe very different traits.

For example, a common screening questionnaire for psychosis asks people to agree or disagree with statements like “Some people think that I am a very bizarre person” or “I am an odd, unusual person.” Autistic behaviours such as stimming or other unique traits might be misinterpreted as “odd” or “bizarre,” even though they are typical for autistic people. Other common items assessing negative symptoms of psychosis may assess more shared interpersonal experiences, such as “I am not good at expressing my true feelings by the way I talk and look” and “My ‘nonverbal’ communication (smiling and nodding during a conversation) is not very good” and so exaggerate the association.

What’s Next?

We wanted to see if the type of measurement tool changed the strength of the relationship between autistic and psychosis-traits, but the data available wasn’t able to answer this. While the evidence for a strong association between autistic and psychotic-like traits is clear, more research is needed to improve assessment tools and ensure autistic people get accurate diagnoses and the right support.

Reference: Miles, M. R., Golm, D., & Palmer‐Cooper, E. (2025). The association between autism and psychosis and the tools used to measure it: An updated systematic review and meta‐analysis. British Journal of Clinical Psychology.