Edited by: Gustavo Cunha de Araujo, Federal University of North Tocantins (UFNT), Brazil
Reviewed by: Baiba Martinsone, University of Latvia, Latvia
Barbara Sawicka, University of Life Sciences of Lublin, Poland
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This study explored whether engagement with Creating Arts and Crafting (CAC) predicted subjective wellbeing and loneliness, above and beyond known sociodemographic predictors.
Secondary data from 7,182 adults living in England from the Taking Part Survey (a 2019–2020 UK household survey of culture and sport participation) were analyzed. Hierarchical Linear regressions were used to explore the predictive effect of engagement with CAC on aspects of subjective wellbeing (anxiety, happiness, life satisfaction and a sense that life is worthwhile) and loneliness. Covariates included gender, Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), age group, health and employment status.
Engaging in CAC significantly predicted increased life satisfaction, a sense that life is worthwhile and happiness, above and beyond known sociodemographic predictors.
Our study provides support for the wellbeing benefits of engagement with creating arts and crafting, and we suggest that this will be a useful tool at a public health level, noting that relative accessibility and affordability creating arts and crafting.
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Since the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health provisions are failing to meet the growing demand on their services from people in need (
One suggested tool to improve wellbeing and combat loneliness is engagement with Creating Arts and Crafting (CAC). CAC can refer to numerous activities, such as pottery, drawing, painting, knitting, sewing, and crochet. There is wide-scale public interest in CAC, with British TV programs, such as
Engagement with CAC is not a new intervention to improve mental health and wellbeing in clinical populations [e.g., (
Less studied is whether engagement with CAC might be associated with reduced loneliness. Mindfulness is known to be effective in reducing loneliness [e.g., (
The current study aims to address these gaps in the literature. To this end we utilize a dataset from the Taking Part survey, an annual survey conducted by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which assesses a sample of the general population’s engagement in cultural, digital and sporting activities. We aim to quantitatively investigate whether engagement with
The current study controls for sociodemographic variables that are already known to be linked to subjective wellbeing and loneliness outcomes (
Wellbeing is measured here through Subjective Wellbeing (SWB), which comprises the variables of happiness, anxiety, life satisfaction and a sense that life is worthwhile, in line with the UK Office for National Statistics [ONS; e.g., (
A random representative sample of 7,182 individuals were derived from the Taking Part Survey, a face-to-face household survey undertaken prior to COVID, in Year 13 (April 2019–March 2020), by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (
Participant characteristics.
Characteristic | |
Gender, |
|
Female | 3,902 (54.3%) |
Male | 3,280 (45.7%) |
Age group, |
|
Not reported | 36 (0.5%) |
16–19 | 21 (0.3%) |
20–24 | 172 (2.4%) |
25–34 | 925 (12.9%) |
35–44 | 1,229 (17.1%) |
45–54 | 1,291 (18%) |
55–64 | 1,285 (17.9%) |
65–74 | 1,223 (17%) |
75–84 | 756 (10.5%) |
85+ | 244 (3.4%) |
IMD decile (scale = 1–10), |
|
1 (relatively most deprived decile) | 732 (10.2%) |
2 | 722 (10.1%) |
3 | 613 (8.5%) |
4 | 650 (9.1%) |
5 | 772 (10.7%) |
6 | 707 (9.8%) |
7 | 770 (10.7%) |
8 | 775 (10.8%) |
9 | 778 (10.8%) |
10 (relatively least deprived decile) | 663 (9.2%) |
Self-reported poor health (scale = 1–5), mean (SE) | 2.11 (0.012) |
In employment | |
Yes, |
3,995 (55.6%) |
No, |
3,187 (44.4%) |
Engagement with creating arts and crafting | |
Yes, |
2,689 (37.4%) |
No, |
4,493 (62.6%) |
Satisfaction (scale = 1–10), mean (SE) | 7.76 (0.022) |
Happy (scale = 1–10), mean (SE) | 7.64 (0.025) |
Worthwhile (scale = 1–10), mean (SE) | 8.00 (0.021) |
Anxiety (scale = 1–10), mean (SE) | 2.79 (0.035) |
Lonely (scale = 1–5), mean (SE) | 2.22 (0.014) |
Index of multiple deprivation (IMD), Number (N), Standard error (SE).
As per
To capture this concept, we compared participants who indicated they engaged in at least one of the following activities within the last 12 months (vs. none): ‘
Subjective wellbeing was measured through four single-item questions, whereby each was assessed on 0–10 Likert scales and analysed individually following ONS guidance (
A single item measured loneliness: “
To test our hypothesis, we ran hierarchical linear regressions, with engagement with CAC and sociodemographics (gender, level of deprivation, age, general health and employment status) as the predictor variables, and SWB (life satisfaction, life being worthwhile, happiness and anxiety) and loneliness as the outcome variables. Therefore, a total of five hierarchical regressions were conducted, one on each outcome variable. Sociodemographic variables were entered in Block 1, with engagement with CAC entered in Block 2. All analyses were conducted via Jamovi. The categorical predictor variables were dummy coded: engagement with CAC (reference: none of these), gender (reference: female), and employment status (reference: not working). There was no multicollinearity between the predictor variables, as assessed through VIFs ≤1.37.
Engagement with creating arts and crafting (CAC) significantly predicted participants’ reported life satisfaction, above and beyond the effects of age, gender, deprivation, poor health, and being in work. Inclusion of engagement with CAC in the model explained an additional 0.1% of variance in life satisfaction scores compared to the effects of a model including only age, gender, deprivation, poor health and being in work,
Engagement with CAC significantly predicted participants’ sense that life is worthwhile, above and beyond the effects of age, gender, deprivation, poor health and being in work. Indeed, inclusion of engagement in CAC in the model explains an additional 0.4% variance in participants’ sense that life is worthwhile compared to a model that only includes age, gender, deprivation, poor health and being in work,
Participants’ reported happiness was significantly predicted by their engagement with CAC, above and beyond the effects of age, gender, deprivation, poor health and being in work. An additional 0.1% of variance in participants’ happiness scores could be explained by the inclusion of engagement with CAC in the model, compared to the effects of age, gender, deprivation, poor health or being in work,
Contrary to our hypothesis, engagement with CAC did not provide additional predictive power for anxiety scores to the model (
Contrary to our hypothesis, a model including engagement with CAC did not predict significantly more variance in loneliness scores than a model including age, gender, deprivation, poor health and being in work alone (
Our findings support aspects of our hypothesis; specifically that engagement with CAC is associated with significantly higher life satisfaction, happiness, and a sense that life is worthwhile. Engagement with CAC is not associated with lower levels of anxiety or loneliness (
Results of two-step hierarchical multiple regressions predicting satisfaction, happiness, life being worthwhile, anxiety and loneliness with regression coefficients (B) specified for all predictor variables at each step of the regression.
Predictor variables | Satisfaction | Happiness | Worthwhile | Anxiety | Loneliness |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Step 1 | |||||
Intercept | 8.694*** | 8.418*** | 8.682*** | 2.559*** | 2.183*** |
Gender | −0.071 | −0.145** | −0.234*** | −0.387*** | −0.209*** |
IMD decile | 0.019** | 0.012 | 0.021** | 0.021 | −0.019*** |
Age group | 0.100*** | 0.126*** | 0.082*** | −0.239*** | −0.048*** |
General health | −0.749*** | −0.697*** | −0.571*** | 0.753*** | 0.284*** |
In employment | 0.062 | 0.019 | 0.136** | 0.002 | −0.187*** |
0.163 | 0.105 | 0.108 | 0.071 | 0.077 | |
280*** | 169*** | 174*** | 109.3*** | 118.8*** | |
Step 2 | |||||
Intercept | 8.653*** | 8.358*** | 8.580*** | 2.506*** | 2.187*** |
Gender | −0.063 | −0.128** | −0.205*** | −0.371*** | −0.210*** |
IMD decile | 0.018* | 0.011 | 0.019** | 0.020 | −0.019*** |
Age group | 0.100*** | 0.127*** | 0.083*** | −0.238*** | −0.048*** |
General health | −0.747*** | −0.695*** | −0.567*** | 0.755*** | 0.284*** |
In employment | 0.062 | 0.018 | 0.136** | 0.002 | −0.187*** |
ECAC | 0.088* | 0.128* | 0.218*** | 0.113 | −0.007 |
0.164 | 0.106 | 0.112 | 0.071 | 0.077 | |
Δ |
0.0005 | 0.0008 | 0.003 | 0.0003 | <0.0001 |
Δ |
4.59* | 6.71* | 27.5*** | 2.59 | 0.061 |
*
Given the concern for improving the population’s wellbeing (
Specifically, in line with our hypothesis, engagement with CAC was linked to significantly increased life satisfaction, a greater sense that life is worthwhile and increased happiness, above and beyond known sociodemographic predictors. While these findings are of a small-sized magnitude, they are comparable to the effects of known sociodemographic variables, and are of practical importance at a population level. For example, the predictive effect of engagement with CAC on life satisfaction that we observed is an order of magnitude greater than the effect of living in a less deprived area. Similarly, the predictive effect of engagement with CAC on people’s sense that life is worthwhile is greater than the individual effect of being in employment, greater than the effect of living in a less deprived area, and greater than the effect of aging by one decile (~ 20 years). The effect of engagement with CAC on happiness was of a similar magnitude as the effect of aging by one decile or of being female. That is, although variances explained by engaging with CAC were objectively low, they are relatively larger (for life satisfaction and life being worthwhile) or comparable (for happiness) than those explained by other sociodemographic variables known to impact wellbeing. The relationships between engagement with CAC and subjective wellbeing measures in relation to sociodemographic predictors is noteworthy, because unlike static sociodemographic variables, engagement with CAC is a variable that can be manipulated and is therefore open to intervention. Thus, not only is engagement with CAC possibly more effective than many sociodemographic variables on improving aspects of wellbeing, but it is also an easier variable to manipulate and influence. We note also that engagement with crafting or creating arts has a relatively low entry point; crafting and creating arts is an accessible and relatively affordable pastime, and a popular pursuit among the general population. This is in contrast to attending live sporting events, which has also been demonstrated to positively predict SWM in a large UK sample (
The implications of these findings are particularly significant given the importance of wellbeing. Higher SWB predicts health (
Our hypothesis was not supported with regards to one component of SWB (anxiety) and loneliness, as engagement with CAC had no significant predictive effect on either, above and beyond other sociodemographic predictors. Arts and crafts activities included here (e.g., drawing, painting, knitting, sewing, and crochet) can be considered as relatively solitary activities. This likely explains why we did not observe an effect of engaging with CAC on reducing loneliness. Further research should unpick the importance of the social elements of engagement with CAC, especially given the rich literature on social support and wellbeing (
Regarding the role of sociodemographic factors on SWB and loneliness, we largely replicate findings from previous research, as expected. We found that loneliness and perceiving life as worthwhile were both predicted by all sociodemographic variables here (deprivation, age group, gender, general health and employment status). Life satisfaction was predicted by deprivation, age and general health, whereas happiness and anxiety were both predicted by gender, age and health. In general, better health (
While our study’s strengths include the use of a nationally representative sample, investigation of overall engagement in craft activities and the use of quantitative methods, it is not without limitations. Firstly, our list of arts and crafts is not exhaustive and other arts categories, such as metalworking and literary arts were not considered. We also cannot be sure that participants shared the same understanding of what the various crafts listed in the survey entail. Of interest, many of the crafts included here may be seen as stereotypically feminine and thus the choice of CAC activities may be confounded with gender as a sociodemographic. It is unclear whether different arts and crafts affect men and women differently. Literature on masculinity threat and precarious manhood suggests that crafts such as knitting may be seen as threatening for many men (
Further studies should also focus on the mechanisms through which engagement with CAC relates to wellbeing, which were not measured here. For example, a key component of creativity is the experience of flow (
Overall, our study provides support for exploring the wellbeing benefits of engagement with creative arts and crafting as a useful strategy to improve wellbeing at a population level, with the positive effects observed here being comparable to or greater than known sociodemographic predictors of wellbeing. Being already popular (37.4% of the current national sample), relatively cheap and accessible, engagement with CAC activities lends itself to government support and public uptake. Increased funding for creative arts and crafting activities for the general population may benefit society as a whole by improving wellbeing in modern living.
Publicly available datasets were analyzed in this study. This data can be found here:
Ethical approval was not required for the study involving humans in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent to participate in this study was not required from the participants or the participants’ legal guardians/next of kin in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements.
HK: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. SG: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. SF: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft. NG: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft. AH: Writing – review & editing. EK: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. KM: Writing – review & editing. RO: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. SR: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – original draft. MZ: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.
The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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