The effects of arts and humanities engagement in a representative sample of United States residents during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread decreases in well-being, and people turned to various coping resources to mitigate declines in well-being.Method: In a large (N = 873) representative US adult sample collected in the fall of 2020, we examined the degree to which people coped using the arts and humanities and the perceived impact of the pandemic and how these factors were associated with well-being.Results: We found coping with the arts was associated with many facets of well-being and, for many of these associations, the more people felt impacted by the pandemic, the stronger the relationship with coping with the arts. We further examined the nature of people’s typical arts engagement (e.g., immersion, reflectiveness) with the use of arts to cope.Conclusions: These findings suggest the arts can promote well-being in challenging circumstances and the need for continued examination of the role the arts play in well-being.