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Differential participation in community cultural activities amongst those with poor mental health: Analyses of the UK Taking Part Survey

Fancourt, D; Baxter, L; (2020) Differential participation in community cultural activities amongst those with poor mental health: Analyses of the UK Taking Part Survey. Social Science & Medicine , 261 , Article 113221. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113221. Green open access

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Abstract

Rationale. There is a growing literature on the benefits of arts and cultural engagement for mental health. However, whether poor mental health is a barrier to engaging in cultural activities remains unclear. Objective. To identify whether there are differential participation rates in community cultural activities amongst those with differing levels of mental health (specifically, feelings of anxiety and happiness) and identify potential explanatory factors. Method. We analysed data from 7241 participants in the Taking Part survey; a random face-to-face household survey conducted in England (2016–2017). Cultural engagement was measured using a four-factor variable of cultural participation derived from assessing annual attendance at 21 receptive cultural activities. Mental health was measured using two of the Office for National Statistics measures of subjective wellbeing: happiness and anxious feelings. Analyses were adjusted for demographic, socio-economic, geographic and behavioural factors. Results. There was no difference in participation amongst individuals experiencing high levels of anxious feelings, but individuals experiencing low levels of happiness were less likely to engage in ‘popular’ cultural activities (e.g., live music events/cinema), ‘high art’ cultural activities (e.g., opera/ballet), and crafts and literary cultural events (e.g., exhibitions/book fairs). Education and socio-economic status largely explained differences, but for ‘high art’ and ‘popular’ activities, differences persisted independent of all explanatory factors tested. There was no difference in participation in global cultural activities (e.g., festivals). Conclusions. Using behaviour change theory, our findings suggest that lower levels of physical and social opportunity and psychological capability may reduce levels of cultural participation amongst individuals with low levels of happiness, but other physical and perceived barriers still remain to be explored.

Type: Article
Title: Differential participation in community cultural activities amongst those with poor mental health: Analyses of the UK Taking Part Survey
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113221
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113221
Language: English
Additional information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords: Cultural engagement, Anxiety, Mental health, Community participation, Behaviour change theory
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Behavioural Science and Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10107194
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