Is social capital higher in areas with a higher density of historic assets? Analyses of 11,112 adults living in England.

AIMS: Previous evidence suggests that engagement with heritage such as visiting heritage sites provides benefits for people's mental and social wellbeing, and helps to establish social capital. However, far less is known about whether living in areas of historic built environment also helps build social capital. Furthermore, it remains unclear how the association between historic built environment and social capital may vary across heritage engagement frequency and areas of deprivation levels. This study was therefore designed to explore the cross-sectional relationship between historic built environment and social capital. METHODS: Analysis was based on three datasets: Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study Waves 5 (2013/2015) and 6 (2014/2016), 2019 National Heritage List for England, and 2015 English Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions were applied to estimate the relationships between historic built environment (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, and registered parks and gardens) and social capital (personal relationships, social network support, civic engagement, and trust and cooperative norms). RESULTS: We found that people living in places with greater historic built environment experienced higher levels of personal relationships, social network support, and civic engagement. However, these associations were attenuated once rurality was adjusted. Individuals living in areas of greater levels of historic built environment displayed higher levels of trust and cooperative norms, even after adjusting for all relevant covariates. Heritage engagement frequency was found to moderate the association between historic built environment and personal relationships. Similarly, IMD was also found to moderate the association between historic built environment and trust and cooperative norms. CONCLUSION: These findings highlight the importance of neighbourhood environment in building social capital in communities. Particularly, areas with heritage assets may provide both socially inviting and aesthetically pleasing environments that could help strengthen community and restore pride in place.

Longitudinal changes in home-based arts engagement during and following the first national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.

AIMS: This study aimed to examine potential heterogeneity in longitudinal changes in home-based arts engagement during the first national lockdown and following gradual easing of restrictions in the UK. Furthermore, it sought to explore factors that were associated with patterns of longitudinal changes in home-based arts engagement. METHOD: Data were from the UCL COVID-19 Social Study. The analytical sample consisted of 29,147 adults in the UK who were followed up for 22 weeks from 21 March to 21 August 2020. Data were analysed using growth mixture models. RESULTS: Our analyses identified five classes of growth trajectories. There were two stable classes showing little change in arts engagement over time (64.4% in total), two classes showing initial increases in arts engagement followed by declines as restrictions were eased (29.8%), and one class showing slight declines during strict lockdown followed by an increase in arts engagement after the easing of restrictions (5.9%). A range of factors were found to be associated with class membership of these arts engagement trajectories, such as age, gender, education, income, employment status, and health. CONCLUSION: There is substantial heterogeneity in longitudinal changes in home-based arts engagement. For participants whose engagement changed over time, growth trajectories of arts engagement were related to changes in lockdown measures. These findings suggest that some individuals may have drawn on the arts when they needed them the most, such as during the strict lockdown period, even if they usually had lower levels of arts engagement before the pandemic. Overall, our results indicate the importance of promoting arts engagement during pandemics and periods of lockdown as part of public health campaigns.

Predictors of engaging in voluntary work during the COVID-19 pandemic: analyses of data from 31,890 adults in the UK.

AIMS: As the COVID-19 pandemic has grown internationally, there has been an increased need for volunteers. This study aimed to identify the predictors of volunteering including demographic backgrounds, socio-economic characteristics, personality, and psychosocial factors. METHODS: Data were analysed from 31,890 adults in the UK COVID-19 Social Study run by the University College London - a longitudinal study focusing on the psychological and social experiences of adults living in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tetrachoric factor analysis was applied to identify latent categories of voluntary work. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identity predictors for volunteering and change in volunteering behaviours since before the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Three types of volunteering during the pandemic were identified as follows: formal volunteering, social action volunteering, and neighbourhood volunteering. Regression analysis showed that the pattern of voluntary work was structured by demographic backgrounds, socio-economic factors, personality, and psychosocial factors. CONCLUSION: The predictors of volunteering during the pandemic may be slightly different from other non-emergency period.

Does arts and cultural engagement vary geographically? Evidence from the UK household longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have shown the beneficial impacts of arts participation and cultural engagement on health outcomes. However, this engagement is socially patterned and is also possibly influenced by geographical factors. STUDY DESIGN: The aim of this study was to examine the association between geographical factors (spatial setting and neighbourhood characteristics) and arts and cultural engagement amongst adults in the UK. METHODS: Data analysed were from Understanding Society Wave 2 (2010/12) with a total sample size of 26,215. Logistic and ordinal regression was used to identify geographical predictors for the patterns of the engagement. RESULTS: Our results show that there are geographical differences in participation independent of individual demographic and socio-economic backgrounds. In particular, there was more evidence for differences in the participation based on neighbourhood characteristics (e.g. level of area deprivation). We also found some interactions between individual and geographical factors for cultural engagement but not for arts participation. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals a geographical and individual socio-economic gradient in arts and cultural engagement. Given the health benefits of arts engagement, improving access to arts and cultural programmes geographically may potentially help to reduce health inequalities.

Adolescent Emotion Network Dynamics in Daily Life and Implications for Depression.

Emotion network density describes the degree of interdependence among emotion states across time. Higher density is theorized to reflect rigidity in emotion functioning and has been associated with depression in adult samples. This paper extended research on emotion networks to adolescents and examined associations between emotion network density and: 1) emotion regulation and 2) symptoms of depression. Data from a daily diary study (t = 21 days) of adolescents (N = 151; 61.59% female; mean age = 14.60 years) were used to construct emotion network density scores. Emotion regulation was measured using The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale Short Form (DERS-SF). Depression was measured using the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale-Short Version (RCADS-SV). Associations between emotion network density and DERS-SF were examined through Pearson correlations. Multiple regression analyses examined associations between emotion network density and depression. Emotion network density was not associated with the DERS-SF. Follow-up analyses showed that it was positively associated with non-acceptance of emotions (a subscale of the DERS-SF). Emotion network density was positively associated with RCADS-SV depression. Non-acceptance of emotions may encourage the spread of emotion across time and states given that a feature of non-acceptance is to have secondary emotional responses to one's emotions. Emotion networks that are self-predictive may be a risk factor for adolescent depression.