Abstract
Self‐esteem is regarded as vital to children's social and cognitive development and emotional well‐being. To date, a few studies have suggested that arts activities can improve self‐esteem in young people. However, such studies mainly focused on small, nonrepresentative samples. In this study, data from 6209 children included in the United Kingdom Millennium Cohort Study were analyzed using propensity score matching to investigate the association between children's arts engagement ((1) listening to or playing music; (2) drawing, painting, or making things; and (3) reading for enjoyment) and self‐esteem at age 11. All three activities were associated with higher levels of self‐esteem when matching for all identified demographic, socioeconomic, and familial confounders. Additionally, the relationship was more prominent when children engaged in these activities with their parents on a regular basis. However, there was no clear evidence that ability in either music or arts activities moderated the relationship with self‐esteem, although English language ability may moderate the association between reading and self‐esteem. These results suggest that initiatives to promote arts engagement in children may provide a practical and efficient way to improve children's self‐esteem. This is the key given self‐esteem in childhood tends to decline as children enter adolescence, yet is linked to lifelong development and well‐being.
Highlights
We examined the relationship between ability in arts activities and children’s self-esteem among a sample who frequently engaged in these activities
Is arts engagement associated with self-esteem? Table 2 represents results from the propensity score matching (PSM) models
Children who participated in arts activities most days were significantly more likely to have higher levels of self-esteem than those who participated less often
Summary
The relationship between arts engagement and psychological well-being and mental health is well established.[1,2,3,4] Among young people in particular, arts activities are associated with both mental health and well-being[5,6,7,8] and with a range of related factors, including fewer socioemotional difficulties, higher levels of academic self-confidence, improved mood, and better communication for children with autistic spectrum disorders.[5,9,10]a gap in the literature pertains to the relationship between arts engagement and children’s self-esteem. Whether regular arts engagement during childhood at a wider population level is linked with higher levels of self-esteem remains unclear. In this study, we explore the relationship between arts engagement, such as listening to or playing music, drawing, painting, or making things, and reading for enjoyment, and children’s self-esteem at age 11. This is a critical age, as levels of self-esteem tend to decline over the transition from late childhood to early adolescence, partly due to social comparisons and self-evaluation on feedback from others.[14] So, identifying activities that support self-esteem at this transition is pivotal
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