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Abstract
BackgroundLeisure time activities and culture participation may have health effects and be important in pulic health promotion. More knowledge on how cultural activity participation may influence self-perceived health, life-satisfaction, self-esteem and mental health is needed.MethodsThis article use data from the general population-based Norwegian HUNT Study, using the cross-sectional Young-HUNT3 (2006–08) Survey including 8200 adolescents. Data on cultural activity participation, self-perceived health, life-satisfaction, self-esteem, anxiety and depression were collected by self-reported questionnaires.ResultsBoth attending meetings or training in an organisation or club, and attending sports events were positively associated with each of the health parameters good self-percieved health, good life-satisfaction, good self-esteem, and low anxiety and depression symptoms. We found differences according to gender and age (13–15 years versus 16–19 years old) for several culture activities, where girls aged 16–19 years seemed to benefit most from being culturally active. The extent of participation seemed to matter. Those who had frequent participation in cultural activities reported better health outcomes compared to inactive adolecents.ConclusionsThe results from this study indicate that participation in cultural activities may be positively associated with health, life-satisfaction and self-esteem in adolescents and thus important in public health promotion. Possible sex and age differences should be taken into account.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1873-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Leisure time activities and culture participation may have health effects and be important in pulic health promotion
Culture activity was assessed by the head question: How often have you done any of these activities in the past week?: Read a book/magazine/comic book, listened to music, played an instrument, was at a meeting or training with a club/team, was at the library, went to the movies, was in a play/theatre, did photography/film, went to a concert, went to watch a sport event/game, sang in a chore
The results from the present study highlight two cultural activities in particular. Both participating at a meeting or training in an organisation or club, and being audience at sports events were positively associated with all of the investigated health outcomes
Summary
This article use data from the general population-based Norwegian HUNT Study, using the cross-sectional Young-HUNT3 (2006–08) Survey including 8200 adolescents. Data on cultural activity participation, self-perceived health, life-satisfaction, self-esteem, anxiety and depression were collected by self-reported questionnaires. Study population The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) is a total population based study in the County of Nord-Trøndelag, Norway [19]. The young-HUNT data collection The Young-HUNT Study is the adolecent part (13–19 years) of the HUNT Study including all students in junior and senior High Schools (lower and upper Secondary Schools) in the county [18] In the present study data from 8200 adolescents (78,4 % of the invited) attending the Young-HUNT3 Survey (2006–08) were used. The Young-HUNT3 questionnaire included data on lifestyles, somatic and mental health problems, well-being and leisure time activities. Values from 1 to 4 for each answer category regarding frequency were assigned “None”, “Once”, “2-3 times”, “4 times or more” in the last 7 days
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