ArticlePloS one2020
What barriers do people experience to engaging in the arts? Structural equation modelling of the relationship between individual characteristics and capabilities, opportunities, and motivations to engage.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Longitudinal regimes of arts and cultural engagement and frailty among older adults in the United States: a g-formula approach.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Global Arts Engagement Inequalities in and Outside School: Analyses of 441,183 15-Year-Olds Across 73 Countries.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026Article
- Changes in mental health during participation in Art Pharmacy: a longitudinal study of a U.S. arts-based social prescribing program.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Everyone Breathes: a mixed methods evaluation of a combined Feldenkrais and vocal improvisation group within an adult mental health Recovery College setting.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Social Participation and Depressive Symptoms Among Older Adults.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Global inequalities in arts, music or educational organization membership: an epidemiological analysis of 73,825 adults from 51 countries.BMC global and public health · 2025Article
- Art for health's sake or health for art's sake: Disentangling the bidirectional relationships between arts engagement and mental health.PNAS nexus · 2024Article
- Men's mental health and the arts: perceived benefits and dynamics of engagement.Health promotion international · 2023Article
- How arts engagement supported social connectedness during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom: findings from the HEartS Survey.Public health · 2022Article
- Longitudinal changes in home-based arts engagement during and following the first national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.Perspectives in public health · 2022Article
- Associations between neighbourhood deprivation and engagement in arts, culture and heritage: evidence from two nationally-representative samples.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Who engages in the arts in the United States? A comparison of several types of engagement using data from The General Social Survey.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesParticipation in the arts has well-documented benefits for health. However, participation in the arts is socially patterned, and it remains unclear why this is: what factors act as barriers or enablers of individual arts engagement. Therefore this study explored how individual characteristics predict individuals' capabilities, opportunities and motivations to engage in participatory arts activities.
methodsWe analysed data from 6,867 adults in the UK (61.2% female, average age 46.7 years) who engage infrequently in performing arts, visual arts, design and crafts, literature-related activities, or online, digital and electronic arts. We constructed a structural equation model to explore the relationship between demographic factors (including age, sex, ethnicity or socio-economic status), health factors (including physical and mental health) or social factors (including living alone, urban density, loneliness or socialising) and perceived barriers to arts engagement.
resultsIndividuals with poorer physical and mental health experienced more barriers affecting their perceived capabilities to engage in the arts, whilst individuals with poorer mental health also described experiencing more barriers affecting their motivations to engage. Individuals of lower SES reported more barriers in terms of opportunities to engage, whilst loneliness was related to more barriers around opportunities and motivations and living alone was associated with more opportunity barriers. Interestingly, adults who were older experienced fewer barriers relating to capabilities or opportunities, as did men, whilst being of white ethnicity was associated with fewer barriers across all three domains. Adults who were more socially engaged or who had poorer physical health experienced fewer barriers relating to motivations. Geographical area of dwelling was not related to any barriers.
conclusionsThis study has shown for the first time where the barriers leading to differential patterns of arts engagement lie. The findings could inform future behaviour change interventions designed to encourage arts engagement amongst individuals who are least likely to engage.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.