Mak Hei Wan, Bone Jessica K, Noguchi Taiji, Kim Joeun, So Rina, Walker Emma, Smith Calum, Bower Marlee, Botha Ferdi, Sajnani Nisha, Fietje Nils, Fancourt Daisy
Department of Behavioural Science & Health, Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7HB, UK.
Department of Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Research Institute, 7-430 Morioka, Obu, Aichi, 474-8511, Japan.
BMC Glob Public Health. 2025 Aug 8;3(1):68. doi: 10.1186/s44263-025-00187-1.
Arts and cultural engagement is a ubiquitous human behavior and considered to be evolutionarily and developmentally adaptive, with wide-ranging health benefits. Although levels of engagement are known to be far from equal within countries, comprehensive data comparing the rates and profiles of engagement on a global scale are lacking.
This study analyzed cross-sectional data from Wave 7 of the World Values Survey (2017-2023), with 73,825 respondents from 51 countries. Using multilevel logistic regression, we tested whether a set of individual-level demographic and socio-economic factors and country-level socio-demographic and political factors were associated with arts, music, or educational organization membership rates. We additionally explored whether those individual-level factors differed across regions using single-level regression.
Prevalence of arts organization membership varies substantially across countries, from fewer than 1 in 30 people living in Egypt to more than 1 in 2 people living in Kenya. Education, income, and age are consistently identified individual-level factors contributing to membership disparities, alongside other region-specific individual-level factors such as gender and employment status. Membership is also positively influenced by country-level income inequality and net migration rate.
We found a universal social gradient in membership, which suggests differential opportunities and potential barriers to access arts organizations across population subgroups. Given that participation in arts organizations has been shown to improve health outcomes, reducing disparities in access to and participation in the arts may have the potential to help reduce health inequalities and should therefore be a priority in global health.
参与艺术和文化活动是一种普遍存在的人类行为，被认为在进化和发展过程中具有适应性，对健康有广泛益处。尽管已知在各国国内参与程度远不平等，但缺乏在全球范围内比较参与率和参与情况的综合数据。
本研究分析了世界价值观调查第7波（2017 - 2023年）的横断面数据，来自51个国家的73,825名受访者。使用多层次逻辑回归，我们测试了一组个人层面的人口统计学和社会经济因素以及国家层面的社会人口统计学和政治因素是否与艺术、音乐或教育组织的会员率相关。我们还使用单层次回归探讨了这些个人层面的因素在不同地区是否存在差异。
艺术组织会员率在各国之间差异很大，从生活在埃及的每30人中不到1人，到生活在肯尼亚的每2人中超过1人。教育、收入和年龄一直被确定为导致会员差异的个人层面因素，还有其他特定地区的个人层面因素，如性别和就业状况。会员率还受到国家层面收入不平等和净移民率的积极影响。
我们发现会员率存在普遍的社会梯度，这表明不同人群亚组在加入艺术组织方面存在不同的机会和潜在障碍。鉴于参与艺术组织已被证明能改善健康状况，减少在艺术参与机会上的差距可能有助于减少健康不平等，因此应成为全球健康的优先事项。
