Arts and crafts seem to boost well-being more than employment

Engaging in arts and crafts boosts your mental well-being and improves the sense that life is worthwhile. These activities have a positive effect that is as strong or stronger than the mental health improvements that come with being employed.

Decades of research have shown that health, income and employment status are major factors in predicting people’s satisfaction with their lives. However, researchers at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK wanted to investigate what other activities or circumstances might improve mental health. “I was really drawn to looking into whether crafting might be good for your well-being because it’s so accessible, affordable and it’s already popular,” says Helen Keyes.

Keyes and her colleagues analysed more than 7000 responses to the annual Taking Part Survey, which asks people in England how they engage with activities such as arts and culture, sports and internet use. All participants were also asked about their happiness, anxiety, loneliness, life satisfaction and if they felt their life was worthwhile.

More than a third of participants said they had done at least one art or craft activity in the previous year, including pottery, painting, knitting, photography, film-making, woodworking or jewellery-making. Even after accounting for factors like health and employment status, researchers found that engaging in arts and crafts was associated with higher scores across their measures of mental health.

The bump was modest – around 0.2 on a 10-point scale – but crafting was a stronger predictor that someone felt their life was worthwhile compared with harder-to-change factors such as having a job.

“There is something about crafting that gives a sense of progress and self-expression in a way that employment often doesn’t,” says Keyes. “You get to be really proud of what you’re creating and see progress in front of your eyes in real time.” The positive effect of creative pursuits on a person’s sense that life is worthwhile was 1.6 times higher than employment status.

Arts and crafts also boosted happiness and life satisfaction, but didn’t make a meaningful difference to reported loneliness, which may be because many crafts can be done solo.

Promoting and supporting arts and crafts could be used as a preventive measure for mental health on a national scale, says Keyes. “When people do it, they enjoy it. It’s an easy win.”