Longitudinal associations between cultural engagement and mental and social well-being: A fixed-effects analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Cultural engagement (e.g., going to museums, the theatre, and concerts) has been evidenced to support older adults' well-being. However, whether cultural engagement is associated with multiple well-being domains and whether associations vary by sociodemographics and health warrants further investigation.

Using fourteen years of data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we tested the longitudinal associations between cultural engagement and seven well-being outcomes among 6,932-10,428 individuals aged 50-99 years. We used fixed-effects regression to explore the longitudinal associations between cultural engagement and the outcomes, generalized methods of moments estimators to assess directionality, and interactions to test for moderation effects of sociodemographic and health conditions.

We found that increases in cultural engagement were associated with increases in life satisfaction, quality of life, happiness, and having a worthwhile life and decreases in depressive symptoms, anxiety, and loneliness. After assessing directionality, cultural engagement increases predicted subsequent decreases in depressive symptoms. Interactions suggested that older adults with a long-standing health condition, living without a partner, and who were female may experience greater well-being benefits from being culturally engaged.

Our findings underscore the potential of cultural engagement to enhance multiple well-being domains for older adults. It emphasises the need to ensure equitable access to cultural engagement for all older adults, particularly those facing barriers to participation and those with poorer health, who may benefit the most from such initiatives.