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Arts engagement trends in the United Kingdom and their mental and social wellbeing implications: HEartS Survey
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 3, p e0246078 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Evidence on the role of the arts in promoting health and wellbeing has grown over the last two decades. In the United Kingdom, studies using secondary data sources have documented temporal variations in levels of arts engagement in the population, its determinants and its mental wellbeing implications. However, arts engagement is often characterized by prioritizing “high-brow” art forms. In this article, we introduce the HEartS Survey, a tool that aims to increase the balance between inclusivity and brevity of existing arts engagement measures and to focus specifically on the connection between arts engagement and social wellbeing. We explore trends in participatory and receptive engagement with literary, visual, performing, crafts and decorative arts among 5,338 adults in the UK in 2018–2019 using summative engagement scores and cluster analysis. Regression models, adjusted for demographic, socioeconomic, health, and social covariates, examine correlations between arts engagement and psychological and social wellbeing measures. Over 97% of respondents reported engagement in one or more arts activities at least once during 2018–2019, with reading and listening to music being the most popular activities. Arts engagement grouped into three distinct clusters: 19.8% constituted “low engagers” whose main source of engagement was occasional reading; 44.4% constituted “receptive consumers” who read and listened to music frequently and engaged with popular receptive arts activities such as cinema, live music, theater, exhibitions, and museums; and 35.8% constituted “omnivores” who frequently engaged in almost all arts activities. In agreement with existing studies, more arts engagement was associated with higher levels of wellbeing, social connectedness, and lower odds of intense social loneliness. In contrast, we found a positive association between more arts engagement, depression, and intense emotional loneliness for the most highly engaged omnivores. We conclude that arts engagement in the population forms specific profiles with distinct characteristics and consider implications for mental and social wellbeing.
- Subjects :
- Male
business.product_category
Emotions
Culture
Social Sciences
Surveys
The arts
0302 clinical medicine
Elderly
Sociology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Medicine and Health Sciences
Psychology
Public and Occupational Health
030212 general & internal medicine
education.field_of_study
Multidisciplinary
Depression
05 social sciences
Loneliness
Socioeconomic Aspects of Health
Mental Health
Research Design
Medicine
Decorative arts
Female
medicine.symptom
Social psychology
Art
Research Article
Adult
General Science & Technology
Science
Population
Research and Analysis Methods
050105 experimental psychology
03 medical and health sciences
Mental Health and Psychiatry
medicine
Adults
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Active listening
education
Social Behavior
Socioeconomic status
Survey Research
Mood Disorders
Biology and Life Sciences
Citizen journalism
Physical Activity
United Kingdom
Health Care
Summative assessment
Age Groups
People and Places
Population Groupings
business
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 16
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....5ac7b321fe746a613a64eb11b80dee24