New study on youth arts and well-being
A cross-disciplinary literature review
Many different disciplinary fields—medical, psychological, educational, and others—integrate the arts into their work with youth. But each field develops, researches, and publishes their approaches in silos.
This new literature review examines a fragmented research base to explore and better understand how arts engagement promotes the well-being of youth. It also looks at the specific ways that participating in arts activities might promote a young person’s well-being and how one might go about measuring this type of arts engagement.
“Stitching Together the Threads: A Cross-Disciplinary Literature on Youth Arts and Well-Being,” developed by RAND and commissioned by The Wallace Foundation, identifies five complex and interrelated “mechanisms,” or ways of promoting well-being through arts engagement:
- Building agency to make positive social change.
- Promoting health and wellness.
- Encouraging self-expression.
- Creating social connections and community.
- Developing a range of skills such as public speaking, critical and creative thinking.
While these could be used to develop a future youth arts engagement framework, it is noted by researchers that more information is needed to better understand how arts engagement promotes well-being for young people.
Arts program leaders and researchers might find this literature review particularly useful when thinking about ways to advance the field of youth arts and well-being. A summary and the report are available at this link.