Participation in arts, culture, and entertainment activities may promote adolescent wellbeing. However, little is known about how such activities cluster together, and previous research has predominantly used variable-focused approaches, small samples, and cross-sectional designs, has focused on single activities, and/or has not considered the influence of socio-demographic factors on participation. The current study was designed to address these limitations. It was driven by three research aims: to establish patterns (latent classes) of participation in arts, culture, and entertainment activities among adolescents in Greater Manchester, England (Research Question 1); to assess associations between these patterns and a range of covariates (e.g., social media use, ethnicity, socioeconomic disadvantage) (Research Question 2), and, to determine whether patterns of participation in arts, culture, and entertainment predicted later mental wellbeing (Research Question 3).
Patterns of Participation in Arts, Culture, and Entertainment Activities (Research Question 1)
Four distinct patterns of participation in arts, culture, and entertainment activities were identified, providing insight into the differing ways adolescents use their leisure time, and addressing an important evidence gap about how different activities cluster together (Fancourt et al.,
2021). Findings indicated that patterns of participation in arts, culture, and entertainment engagement vary across different groups of young people. For example, one class of adolescents (the Game and Gain Squad) spend a lot of their leisure time playing video games, sports, or doing exercise, at the expense of other activities. By contrast, another class of young people (the Mind and Body Crew) tend to spend time (albeit less than the Game and Gain Squad) undertaking these activities, and also read for pleasure, and engage in arts, crafts and other creative hobbies. Although both classes are characterized by activities which may be considered productive and goal-oriented, they are distinguished by the fact that the Mind and Body Crew participate in activities that offer creative/imaginative outlets, while the Game and Gain Squad focus their time specifically on activities which likely offer a competitive element.
A further group of adolescents (the Dynamic Doers) report engaging in a wide range of participation in arts, culture, and entertainment activities, akin to the
omnivore class noted in the LCA of adult cultural, arts, heritage and sports activities (Walker et al.,
2022). Working from a Bourdieusian perspective, the authors of that study hypothesized that wide-ranging consumption of arts, culture and entertainment reflects significant economic and social capital and advantage; however, our analysis did not support this proposition (see
Socio-demographic predictors of class membership below). Another interesting distinction is the size of these analogous classes: while the Dynamic Doers represented nearly 12% of our sample, fewer than 5% of the adult study sample were classified as omnivores (Walker et al.,
2022). Collectively, these contrasting findings are indicative of potentially important shifts in the drivers and prevalence of participation in arts, culture, and entertainment activity patterns between adolescence and adulthood (i.e., it may be the case that social and economic advantage becomes more central to wide-ranging participation in arts, culture, and entertainment engagement in adulthood, when leisure time reduces).
It is worth noting that even among the Dynamic Doers class, frequency of engagement in some activities remained relatively low, despite being higher than in other classes (e.g., watching live sport, playing in an orchestra/ a musical instrument, attending museums or art galleries, religious activities, or going to the cinema/theater). It is possible that the COVID-19 pandemic played a role in this, as the T1 participation in arts, culture, and entertainment data used in our analyses were collected between September and December 2021. In England, non-essential businesses such as museums and libraries reopened in April 2021; and cinemas reopened and large audiences at sporting events were once again permitted in May 2021 (Institute for Government Analysis,
2021). The low levels of engagement in these activities, even among the Dynamic Doers, may reflect the slow return to normality (ONS,
2022) and possible associated heightened feelings of anxiety following the multiple periods of lockdown that began in 2020 (Smithson,
2021). Indeed, a recent report noted that engagement in such activities is still below pre-pandemic levels for 16–19-year-olds (The Audience Agency,
2023). However, given the much higher levels of engagement in other activities that were similarly impacted by lockdown, such as sports participation, it may be that adolescents were prioritizing some forms of participation in arts, culture, and entertainment activities over others at T1, perhaps motivated by physical health goals following a lengthy sedentary period. An alternative explanation is that these kinds of activities are simply not favored by 12–13-year-olds, though this proposition is not supported by other research. For example, one study found that a third of 10–18 year-olds engaged in choirs, orchestras, theater and dancing, and this did not differ by age (Auhuber et al.,
2019).
A final class of adolescents reported low levels of engagement in all activities (the Activity Free Adolescents), akin to the
disengaged class in the aforementioned research on adult participation in arts, culture, and entertainment (Walker et al.,
2022). However, even among this class, it is noteworthy that there was still a relatively high (0.6) probability of endorsement of frequently playing videogames (compared to probabilities ranging from 0.02 to 0.3 for the remaining activities). This is perhaps unsurprising, given the surge in gaming in recent years, particularly among adolescents, which are at an all-time high (for example, 91% of young people aged 16–24 reported engagement with some form of gaming in 2019; GWI,
2020). More broadly, the global prevalence of gaming is thought to be around 2.7 billion (GWI,
2021). Further, when access to other arts, culture, and entertainment activities was restricted during the COVID-19 lockdown periods, many people may have turned to gaming to fulfil entertainment and socializing needs (GWI,
2021). This type of activity notwithstanding, our findings show that close to 1 in 5 young people report minimal participation in arts, culture, and entertainment activities, which appears to increase to 1 in 4 by adulthood (Walker et al.,
2022).
Socio-Demographic Correlates of Participation in Arts, Culture, and Entertainment Class Membership (Research Question 2)
Belonging to classes that were characterized by a wider range of activities was associated with lower odds of social media use. For example, the Dynamic Doers and Mind and Body Crew spent significantly less time using social media than the Activity Free Adolescents and Game and Gain Squad. This pattern of findings aligns with previous research, which suggests that increased screen time (including social media use) displaces other activities (Auhuber et al.,
2019). However, other research also suggests that high levels of both physical activity and screen time (defined as watching TV, playing video games, and smartphone use) can coincide with one another (Ferrar et al.,
2013; Taverno Ross et al.,
2016), particularly among boys. The fact that the Game and Gain Squad spent significantly more time using social media and were more likely to be boys than the Dynamic Doers and the Mind and Body Crew aligns with such findings (keeping in mind that adolescents’ use of social media is overwhelmingly through their smartphones; Vogels et al.,
2022).
By contrast, findings regarding socio-economic disadvantage were less intuitive and were inconsistent with prior theory and evidence. Socio-economic disadvantage was not a significant predictor of Dynamic Doers class membership compared to the Activity Free Adolescents, yet those in the Mind and Body Crew and Game and Gain Squad were significantly less likely to be socioeconomically disadvantaged than other classes, including Dynamic Doers. As noted above, this diverges from the Bourdieusian analysis focusing on adults (Walker et al.,
2022), in addition to research showing that engagement in arts, culture, and entertainment activities is higher among those from more affluent areas among adults (Mak et al.,
2020), and young people outside of school (Mak & Fancourt,
2021). Furthermore, the cost of such activities has been cited as a barrier to participation (ART31,
2018). One may therefore have anticipated socioeconomic disadvantage to clearly and consistently distinguish our classes in expected ways. It is possible that these surprising findings reflect the derivation of the measure of socioeconomic disadvantage used in the current study, which required adolescents to be both eligible for free school meals
and resident in the lowest IMD quintile. While this addressed the issue of inclusivity (i.e., the c.11% classified as disadvantaged were subject to both familial
and neighborhood socio-economic deprivation), the binary classification approach used meant the measure was insensitive to gradients of socio-economic (dis)advantage (i.e., socio-economic differences between our classes could be more evident among those in the remaining c.89% of our sample, which was inevitably heterogenous).
It should also be noted that socio-economic (dis)advantage is a multi-faceted concept, and other distinct components not captured in the measure, such as parental education, may be important in distinguishing classes. For example, participation in musical activities such as choirs or orchestras, or attendance at museums or the theater outside of school may be influenced by parental exposure (both in childhood and adulthood) or interest in such activities (Mak et al.,
2020; Mak & Fancourt,
2021). Parental exposure to these activities may in turn by influenced by parent education (i.e., parent education as a predictor of engagement in the arts and cultural activities, with parents with higher levels of education being more likely to engage in such activities, as has been the case among adults; for example, Walker et al.,
2022). Finally, it is also important to consider the potential influence of the cost-of-living crisis, resulting from which overall lower levels of participation in entertainment outside of the home have been reported (Torreggiani,
2022); it is possible that this is the case regardless of level of socioeconomic disadvantage.
Sexual orientation and gender identity also predicted participation in arts, culture, and entertainment class membership. Adolescents in the Mind and Body Crew were more likely to identify as cisgender heterosexual girls or LGBTQ+ compared to those in the Game and Gain Squad. Although high levels of playing videogames, sports and exercise is characteristic of both classes, those in the Mind and Body Crew additionally engage in more creative activities. These findings align with previous research indicating that girls are more likely to participate in sedentary activities (Leech et al.,
2014), whereas boys are more likely to be physically active (Hallal et al.,
2012). Those in the Mind and Body Crew are also more likely identify as cisgender heterosexual girls or LGBTQ+ than those in the Dynamic Doers class. This contrasts with other work, where girls were more likely to engage in playing music or being part of an orchestra and attending the theater or dancing (Auhuber et al.,
2019). Dynamic Doers had the highest probability of attending the cinema or theater, and participating in musical activities, so one may have expected, in line with this previous work, that identifying as a cisgender heterosexual girl would predict membership to this class (compared to others). However, activities characteristic of the Mind and Body Crew (e.g., reading for pleasure, arts, crafts, and other creative hobbies) can be engaged in at home or alone, whereas the additional activities that are endorsed by the Dynamic Doers (for example, attending youth clubs or museums) involve community spaces and interacting with others. It is possible that adolescents who identify as cisgender heterosexual girls or LGBTQ+ perceive such community spaces and/or activities to be inaccessible or unsafe and so orient to more home-based activities. This proposition is offered partial support by a recent analysis of the #BeeWell dataset which indicated that trans and gender diverse adolescents (but not cisgender girls) felt significantly less safe in their local area than cisgender boys (Black, Humphrey, & Marquez,
2023.
The most clear and consistent pattern observed in relation to ethnicity was the reduced likelihood of Game and Gain Squad membership among adolescents from all minority ethnic groups, across all contrasts (i.e., compared to classification as Dynamic Doers, Activity Free Adolescents, and Mind and Body Crew). In addition, Black adolescents were significantly more likely to be in the Dynamic Doers class than in the Activity Free Adolescents. These findings appear indicative of an ‘all or nothing’ trend among adolescents from ethnic minority groups (particularly Black adolescents). That is, these adolescents are much more likely to either to engage in
wide-ranging or
minimal arts, culture, and entertainment activities than they are to engage selectively and specifically in video games, sports and exercise and/or arts, crafts and other creative hobbies. Ethnic minority adolescents who endorse such activities do so as part of a broader pattern of omnivorous arts, culture and entertainment consumption (i.e., Dynamic Doers), and those who do not typically do not endorse
any arts, culture, and entertainment activities (i.e., Activity Free Adolescents). The latter finding resonates with statistics indicating that individuals from ethnic minority groups make up just 7% of adult audiences for the arts (Arts Council England,
2022), despite constituting nearly 20% of the population in England (HM Government,
2023). Cultural context is an important factor in determining participation and attendance rates, and individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds may be less likely to engage in certain arts, culture, and entertainment activities due to perceptions of cultural incongruence, discomfort, and/or a lack of representation (Arts Council England,
2016; Bridgwood et al.,
2003). In support of this, adults from ethnic minority groups were significantly more likely to belong to the
disengaged class than their White counterparts (Walker et al.,
2022).
However, these factors do not explain the former finding, relating to wide-ranging arts, culture, and entertainment engagement. Ethnicity, by definition, refers to a shared cultural background, which can encompass religion, food, music, and traditions, among other things (Porta & Last,
2018). Adolescents from ethnic minority groups who tend towards more wide-ranging arts, culture, and entertainment engagement may do so because they spend their leisure time actively engaging in traditional or cultural events, such as community celebrations, parades, and festivals (Mak & Fancourt,
2021). In support of this proposition is the fact that the participation in arts, culture, and entertainment items ‘attend a religious service’ had a higher rate of endorsement among the Dynamic Doers than any other latent class in the current study. It is also possible that engagement in a range of arts, culture, and entertainment activities facilitates a sense of cultural/group belonging, and/or socialization, among ethnic minority group members (Arts Council England,
2016).
Participation in Arts, Culture and Entertainment Class Membership and Later Wellbeing (Research Question 3)
Among young people, engagement in arts, culture and entertainment activities can bring a sense of group identity and social belonging, provide a space to interact with peers with similar interests, improve social skills, and provide a foundation upon which to build new relationships, all of which may produce wellbeing benefits (Bone & Fancourt,
2022; Rees,
2018). Indeed, links between engagement in arts and cultural activities and wellbeing are well established (albeit primarily with adult samples). For example, studies have shown engagement in reading for pleasure, creative activities and art activities improved mental wellbeing, both before the COVID-19 pandemic (Rees,
2018; Zarobe & Bungay,
2017), and more recently during the lockdown periods (Bone et al.,
2023). Such activities have also been used as a therapeutic approach for those with both physical and mental health conditions (Jensen et al.,
2016). Similarly, physical activity is consistently identified as a contributing factor to positive psychological wellbeing (save for a minority of studies, e.g., Bell et al.,
2019). This relationship has been found to be reciprocal (Marsigliante et al.,
2023) and amenable to intervention (e.g., a school-based physical activity intervention was found to improve psychological wellbeing among children and young people; Marsigliante et al.,
2023). Finally, research pertaining to the impact of gaming has historically focused on negative otucomes such as addiction and aggression, however, there is now evidence to suggest that playing videogames can be beneficial to wellbeing and psychological functioning (Adachi & Willoughby,
2017), or indeed have little to no effect on wellbeing, as has been reported in one study (Vuorre et al.,
2022).
The current study addresses a range of previously noted methodological limitations in studies investigating these links (Bone & Fancourt,
2022), and our findings add rigorous longitudinal evidence pertaining to adolescence. After controlling for prior levels of wellbeing and other covariates, a clear pattern was evident in which engagement in either wide-ranging (Dynamic Doers) or selective (Game and Gain Squad) arts, culture, and entertainment activities resulted in improved wellbeing, compared to minimal engagement (Activity Free Adolescents). Notably, the magnitude of this association was stronger in the former contrast (d = 0.26) compared to the latter (d = 0.14). Furthermore, engagement in wide-ranging activities (Dynamic Doers) resulted in improved wellbeing compared to one of the selective classes (Mind and Body Crew) (d = 0.24). Collectively, these analyses support the proposition that relative levels of time spent on a variety of arts, culture, and entertainment activities may be crucial, as opposed to simply the time spent on specific activities (Bone & Fancourt,
2022).
Average wellbeing scores for Dynamic Doers did not differ from those in the Game and Gain Squad (who engage specifically in regular sports, exercise, and video games). It might be tempting to conclude, therefore, that among the range of arts, culture, and entertainment activities, physical activity may be particularly beneficial for wellbeing. This could be due to relief from feelings of stress and anxiety (via improved functioning of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis; Mahindru et al.,
2023), decreases in sedentary time, and/or increased feelings of satisfaction about one’s health (Rees,
2018). However, in the current study, average wellbeing scores for Dynamic Doers were significantly higher than those in the Mind and Body Crew (whose pattern of participation also includes regular sports/exercise). Similarly, average wellbeing scores for the Mind and Body Crew did not differ significantly from the Activity Free Adolescents. Thus, more frequent videogaming (a distinguishing feature between the Game and Gain Squad and Mind and Body Crew, with a probability of 0.92 compared to 0.82) may actually be a particularly ‘active ingredient’ among the range of participation in arts, culture, and entertainment activities. In support of this proposition, the positive effects of video gaming on adolescent wellbeing were noted in a recent review (Adachi & Willoughby,
2017), in which the authors used self-determination theory as an explanatory framework (i.e., video gaming is theorized to benefit wellbeing because it supports a sense of efficacy, personal agency, and social connectedness). Other work has suggested that playing videogames acts as an outlet for young people to release feelings of frustration and aggression, with reports of improved psychological states after a gaming session (Jones et al.,
2014). The motivations behind engaging with videogames is also thought to be an important moderating factor for the effects on wellbeing (Halbrook et al.,
2019).
The relationship between engaging in arts, culture, and entertainment activities and wellbeing is assumed to be reciprocal, with those experiencing higher levels of wellbeing more likely to subsequently engage in arts, culture, and entertainment activities (Bone & Fancourt,
2022; Rees,
2018). This is partially supported by the fact that concurrent wellbeing (measured at T1 alongside data on participation in arts, culture, and entertainment activities) predicted class membership. Dynamic Doers, Game and Gain Squad and Mind and Body Crew members all had significantly higher T1 wellbeing scores than Activity Free Adolescents, and Dynamic Doers had higher T1 wellbeing scores than those in the Mind and Body Crew and the Game and Gain Squad.
Implications, Limitations and Future Directions
The current study provides robust evidence of the connection between participation in arts, culture, and entertainment activities and improved wellbeing. In the context of significant societal concern about adolescent wellbeing (Mei et al.,
2020), a key implication of the current study is that further engagement in arts, culture, and entertainment activities may yield meaningful benefits in this regard. Of particular note are the c. 1 in 5 disengaged young people (the Activity Free Adolescents), and the evidence of socio-demographic inequalities in participation. The analytical sample closely mirrored the 11–16 population of adolescents in Greater Manchester and nationally (albeit with some differences in ethnic composition), giving confidence that the findings are generalizable to young people across England. However, findings may not be generalizable in a more global context. Nonetheless, investment in the prioritization and promotion of provision relating to arts, culture and entertainment should therefore be prioritized. This could be through both reinvigoration of arts and cultural provision in schools (i.e., to address the aforementioned decline in the number of arts-specialist teachers, and the time spent teaching arts-based subjects) and as part of universal personalized care (i.e., through social prescribing initiatives). Particular attention should be paid to ways in which a full range of activities can be made appealing and accessible to all young people. Furthermore, given the findings pertaining to the distinct benefits of video gaming, there is perhaps work to be done to change the public perception of this form of entertainment. Far from being a frivolous use of leisure time that could in fact lead to negative outcomes (the lens through which video gaming has been, and continues to be viewed, by many; Adachi & Willoughby,
2017), the findings of this study indicate that more time spent video gaming may in fact be
time well spent.
In considering the above-noted implications, however, it is important to be cognizant of a number of limitations of the current study. First, though a relatively large and wide-ranging set of participation in arts, culture, and entertainment items was used, these were by no means all encompassing. Relatedly, when thinking specifically about adolescents from ethnic minority groups, their cultural and social diversity means that it is possible that there are other leisure time activities that are not covered in the participation in arts, culture, and entertainment item set (e.g., food festivals, which may make up a large part of their cultural experience; Arts Council England,
2016). Second, as previously mentioned, information about engagement in participation in arts, culture, and entertainment activities was collected in Autumn 2021, and it is possible that the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting restrictions also influenced reported engagement levels. Third, the nature of the LCA made it necessary to truncate participation in arts, culture, and entertainment item responses (i.e., “Most Days”, “At Least Once a Week”, and “At Least Once a Month” responses classified as high engagement). As a result, the analysis was insensitive to the more granular dose-response relationship between engaging in the arts and culture and later wellbeing that has been noted elsewhere in the literature (Bone & Fancourt,
2022). For example, more frequent engagement in participation in arts, culture, and entertainment activities has been found to be associated with larger increases in wellbeing: daily engagement was associated with greater increases than weekly engagement, which was associated with greater increases than monthly engagement (Bone et al.,
2023). Alternatively, it has been suggested that continuous engagement with participation in such activities is necessary for sustained effects on later wellbeing, otherwise benefits may atrophy (Bone & Fancourt,
2022). It is possible that the levels of engagement in some activities reported at T1 may have changed in the period leading to T2, affecting the magnitude of impact on wellbeing. Future research with shorter lags and more frequent data points, analyzed using methods that enable researchers to pinpoint the nature and magnitude of reciprocal, within-person associations between participation in arts, culture, and entertainment and wellbeing (e.g., random intercept cross-lagged panel models; Hamaker et al.,
2015), is therefore recommended.
A fourth limitation of the current study is that, while the analysis was able to robustly identify patterns of participation in arts, culture, and entertainment activity and examine associations with socio-demographic characteristics and wellbeing, it did not consider potential moderators and mechanisms that would help to explain these associations. For example, young people’s perceived agency (i.e., the extent to which they feel able to choose how to spend their free time, as opposed to this being dictated to them by parents) to engage in leisure activities of their choosing may be an important factor in the effects of participation in arts, culture, and entertainment engagement on later wellbeing, with those who perceive greater autonomy experiencing better wellbeing (Kuykendall et al.,
2018). Similarly, future research could examine if the wellbeing benefits of participation in arts, culture, and entertainment observed here result from more effective emotional regulation and coping, enhanced vitality, and/or increased development of self-identity, self-acceptance, and social connectedness. For example, it is plausible to assume that young people who engage in a broad range of activities (such as the Dynamic Doers class established in the current study) would have more social connections than those who do not engage in a broad range of activities (the Activity Free Adolescents), presenting another potential moderator of the influence of said activities on wellbeing. Indeed, social connectedness may act as a protective factor against mental ill health among adults in the general population (Wickramaratne et al.,
2022), and is thought to be critical to the foundations for healthy development and positive wellbeing in adolescence (Blum et al.,
2022).