Research shows that arts and crafts provide more life satisfaction than work
Winston Churchill had a painting, Judi Dench is known for her chunky embroidery and Tom Daley famously knitted at the Olympics. Now researchers say we can all benefit from creative endeavors, and that such pursuits have a greater impact on life satisfaction than having a job.
While arts and crafts have long been used to improve mental health, experts say most research has focused on their effects on patients rather than the general population, often looking at specific activities.
However, the researchers now argue that such interests could be an important tool for improving public health in general.
Dr Helen Keyes, a co-author of the study from Anglia Ruskin University, said: “It’s a fairly affordable, accessible and ultimately popular activity for people to do. And that’s the key. You’re not going to force something on people that they don’t want to do.”
Keyes and colleagues wrote in the journal Frontiers in Public Health about their analysis of data from more than 7,000 people aged 16 and over who took part in the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s face-to-face ‘participation survey’ between April 2019 and March 2020.
As part of the study, participants were asked to rate various aspects of their well-being on a 10-point scale, indicate whether they participated in arts or crafts, and provide demographic information.
The team found that just over 37% of participants reported having taken part in at least one art or craft activity in the past 12 months, ranging from painting to pottery and photography.
Next, the researchers looked at ratings of well-being.
The results showed that people who engaged in creating arts and crafts had higher ratings of happiness, life satisfaction and sense that life was worth living than those who did not, even after taking into account other factors known to have an impact, such as age, gender, deprivation, ill health and employment status.
Keyes said, “So tinkering itself is associated with a greater increase (in well-being).”
Other results from the study found that engaging in arts and crafts was associated with an increase in happiness comparable to growing older by 20 years (as Keyes notes, well-being increases slightly with age), while a sense that life was worth living was more strongly associated with crafts than with a job.
Keyes said, “That was probably our most interesting finding, because you would certainly think that you get a lot of your self-esteem from having a job.” The results, she added, may reflect that not everyone has a job they find fulfilling, while people often have a sense of mastery or “flow” when they engage in arts and crafts — experiencing control, achievement and self-expression.
While the new research did not compare specific creative activities, may not have captured all of the participants’ activities and cannot provide evidence of cause and effect, Keyes said that smaller clinical studies have shown that participating in arts and crafts can boost well-being.
Keyes also acknowledged that the increase in well-being associated with creating arts and crafts was very small – on average, engaging in such activities was only associated with a 2% increase in ratings of life worth living. But, she said, the results remained meaningful at the population level.
She added: “If you’re a national health service, or if you’re a government, then a 2% increase in the overall wellbeing of your population is going to be really significant at that kind of national level.”
Keyes said supporting such activities would be an easier way for governments to improve the country’s well-being than other factors known to have a large impact.
“This is something that we’re showing can have a pretty big impact compared to those other factors,” she said. “But it’s really a very cheap, easy, accessible thing for us to get people involved in.”