Creative leisure activities, mental health and well-being during 5 months of the COVID-19 pandemic: a fixed effects analysis of data from 3725 US adults.

INTRODUCTION: We investigated whether changes in engagement in home-based creative activities were associated with changes in depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and life satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to replicate findings from the UK in a USA sample. METHODS: 3725 adults were included from the COVID-19 Social Study in the USA, a panel study collecting data weekly during the COVID-19 pandemic. We measured engagement in eight types of creative leisure activities on the previous weekday between April and September 2020. Data were analysed using fixed effects regression models. RESULTS: Increased time spent gardening was associated with reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms and enhanced life satisfaction. Spending more time doing woodwork/DIY and arts/crafts were also associated with enhanced life satisfaction. However, more time watching television, films or other similar media (not for information on COVID-19) was associated with increased depressive symptoms. Other creative activities were not associated with mental health or well-being. CONCLUSION: Some findings differ from evidence obtained in the UK, demonstrating the importance of replicating research across countries. Our findings should also be considered when formulating guidelines for future stay-at-home directives, enabling individuals to stay well despite the closure of public resources.

Who Engaged in Home-Based Arts Activities During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Data From 4,731 Adults in the United States.

Arts engagement is a health-related behavior that may be influenced by social inequalities. While the COVID-19 pandemic provided new opportunities for some people to engage in the arts, it might have created barriers for others. We aimed to examine whether there was social patterning in home-based arts engagement during the pandemic in the United States, and whether predictors of engagement differed according to the type of arts activity. We included 4,731 adults who participated in the United States COVID-19 Social Study between April and July 2020. Three types of home-based arts engagement were considered: reading for pleasure, arts or crafts activities, and digital arts activities. Using logistic regression models, we tested cross-sectional associations between a broad range of demographic, socioeconomic, psychosocial, and health-related factors as well as adverse events and worries during lockdown and each type of arts engagement. The factors most strongly associated with all three types of arts engagement were social support, social network size, age, race/ethnicity, keyworker status, and experiencing physical or psychological abuse during the pandemic. However, most socioeconomic and health-related factors were not associated with arts engagement, including household income and mental and physical health problems. Overall, our findings indicate that the social gradient in arts engagement was reduced in the first 4 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Given the health benefits of arts engagement, the potential diversification of arts audiences during the pandemic is promising for both population-level health and wellbeing and the future of the arts and cultural sector.

How Did People Cope During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Structural Topic Modelling Analysis of Free-Text Data From 11,000 United Kingdom Adults

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had substantial impacts on lives across the globe. Job losses have been widespread, and individuals have experienced significant restrictions on their usual activities, including extended isolation from family and friends. While studies suggest population mental health worsened from before the pandemic, not all individuals appear to have experienced poorer mental health. This raises the question of how people managed to cope during the pandemic. Methods To understand the coping strategies individuals employed during the COVID-19 pandemic, we used structural topic modelling, a text mining technique, to extract themes from free-text data on coping from over 11,000 UK adults, collected between 14 October and 26 November 2020. Results We identified 16 topics. The most discussed coping strategy was ‘thinking positively’ and involved themes of gratefulness and positivity. Other strategies included engaging in activities and hobbies (such as doing DIY, exercising, walking and spending time in nature), keeping routines, and focusing on one day at a time. Some participants reported more avoidant coping strategies, such as drinking alcohol and binge eating. Coping strategies varied by respondent characteristics including age, personality traits and sociodemographic characteristics and some coping strategies, such as engaging in creative activities, were associated with more positive lockdown experiences. Conclusion A variety of coping strategies were employed by individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. The coping strategy an individual adopted was related to their overall lockdown experiences. This may be useful for helping individuals prepare for future lockdowns or other events resulting in self-isolation.

Predictors and patterns of gambling behaviour across the COVID-19 lockdown: Findings from a UK cohort study.

The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy has raised concerns about negative coping behaviours to offset financial losses. We used a subset of a longitudinal study of UK adults (N = 19,963) to examine a range of predictors of (i) gambling during the first strict lockdown, (ii) gambling more frequently during this strict lockdown compared to before lockdown, and (iii) continued increased frequency of gambling during the relaxation of restrictions. Results from logistic regressions indicated that amongst other factors, those with progressively lower levels of education, were stressed due to boredom, frequently drank alcohol, and had high risk-taking tendencies were more likely to gamble during strict lockdown. Individuals who were more likely to have increased their frequency of gambling during strict lockdown compared to before the lockdown were stressed by boredom, employed, frequently drank alcohol, and had depression and anxiety, whilst men and current smokers were less likely. As lockdown restrictions eased, individuals of ethnic minority backgrounds, who were current smokers, and with lower educational attainment were more likely to continue gambling more than usual. Findings contribute to knowledge of who is most at risk for increasing their gambling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How have people been coping during the COVID-19 pandemic? Patterns and predictors of coping strategies amongst 26,016 UK adults.

BACKGROUND: Individuals face increased psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it's unknown whether choice of coping styles are influenced by COVID-19 in addition to known predictors. METHODS: Data from 26,016 UK adults in the UCL COVID-19 Social Study were analysed from 12/4/2020 15/5/2020. Regression models were used to identify predictors of coping styles (problem-focused, emotion-focused, avoidant, and socially-supported): model 1 included sociodemographic variables, model 2 additionally included psychosocial factors, and model 3 further included experience of COVID-19 specific adverse worries or events. RESULTS: Sociodemographic and psychosocial predictors of coping align with usual predictors of coping styles not occurring during a pandemic. However, even when controlling for the wide range of these previously known predictors specific adversities were associated with use of specific strategies. Experience of worries about finances, basic needs, and events related to Covid-19 were associated with a range of strategies, while experience of financial adversities was associated with problem-focused, emotion-focused and avoidant coping. There were no associations between coping styles and experiencing challenges in meeting basic needs, but Covid-19 related adversities were associated with a lower use of socially-supported coping. CONCLUSIONS: This paper demonstrates that there are not only demographic and social predictors of coping styles during the COVID-19 pandemic, but specific adversities are related to the ways that adults cope. Furthermore, this study identifies groups at risk of more avoidant coping mechanisms which may be targeted for supportive interventions.

Predictors and Impact of Arts Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analyses of Data From 19,384 Adults in the COVID-19 Social Study.

OBJECTIVES: The global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 heavily affected the arts and creative industries due to the instigation of lockdown measures in the United Kingdom and closure of venues. However, it also provided new opportunities for arts and cultural engagement through virtual activities and streamed performances. Yet it remains unclear (i) who was likely to engage with the arts at home during lockdown, (ii) how this engagement differed from patterns of arts engagement prior to COVID-19, and (iii) whether home-based arts engagement was related to people's ability to cope with their emotions during lockdown. This study was therefore designed to address these questions. METHODS: We used data collected in late May from the United Kingdom COVID-19 Social Study run by University College London. Multivariate regressions were used for the analysis (N = 19,384). Identified factors included demographic factors, socio-economic position, psychosocial wellbeing and health conditions, adverse events/worries, and coping styles. RESULTS: Four types of home-based arts engagement were identified during the COVID-19 pandemic: digital arts and writing, musical activities, crafts, and reading for pleasure. Our results show that the strongest predictors of the engagement were age, education attainment, social support, and emotion-focused or supportive coping styles. In particular, younger adults (aged 18-29), non-keyworkers, people with greater social support, people who had lost work, those who were worried about catching the virus, and those with an emotion-focused, problem-focused or supportive coping style were more likely to have increased arts engagement during lockdown. Arts activities were used as approach and avoidance strategies to help cope with emotions, as well as to help improve self-development. CONCLUSION: Overall, our study suggests that while some people who engaged in the arts during the COVID-19 pandemic were those who typically engage under normal circumstances, the pandemic has also created new incentives and opportunities for others to engage virtually. Additionally, this study highlights the value of the arts as coping tools during stressful situations.

Coping strategies and mental health trajectories during the first 21 weeks of COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom.

RATIONALE: The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health is well evidenced. However, there is little research on how individuals' coping strategies were related to changes in mental health over time. METHODS: The current study used data from the COVID-19 Social Study in the United Kingdom (N = 26,505) to explore whether coping strategies (problem-focused, emotion-focused, avoidant, and socially-supportive) were associated with (i) better mental health as lockdown was introduced, and (ii) faster recovery over time. RESULTS: People with greater use of problem-focused, avoidant, and supportive coping displayed more mental health symptoms, while greater use of emotion-focused coping was associated with fewer mental health symptoms. Symptoms decreased over time for all coping strategies, but only socially-supportive coping was associated with a faster decrease in anxiety and depressive symptoms, indicating a potential protective effect of social support on psychological distress. CONCLUSIONS: Problem-, avoidant- and emotion-focused coping strategies were not associated with faster improvements in mental health. Suggesting the adoption of one of these coping styles in itself is not necessarily a driver of improvements in mental health; rather, specific attributes of the behaviours expressed as part of this coping style appear to be important in and of themselves.