Abstract
While trauma is well known to cause disruptions in development and functioning, some research has suggested that even daily stress can have an adverse effect on children’s ability to function. Areas ranging from emotional well-being to academic success can also be affected by a child’s response to daily stressors. There are many sources of stressors for children, and school can be a significant source of distress in particular with new social interactions and transitions. The risk for adverse effects of stress increases for children who have already experienced trauma. Overactivation of the stress response can lead to a breakdown in its ability to function appropriately, which can lead to problems across a child’s life. Therefore, it is important to explore easily accessible modalities of mitigating children’s stress levels on a day-to-day basis. The current study investigated children’s self-perceived stress as well as stress biomarkers (i.e., heart rate), and asked whether art journaling might serve as a stress-reduction tool for school-age children in Sacramento elementary schools, as well as whether or not previous trauma informs the efficacy of art journaling for stress reduction. Results showed that an art journaling activity was more effective at reducing self-perceived levels of stress than a reading activity. Additionally, while children who experienced previous trauma were not found to have a differential response to either intervention, they were found to have higher self-perceived levels of stress.