The latest research digest from the Centre for Cultural Value, Young people’s mental health, explores 20 peer-reviewed, primary research studies published between 2011 and 2021. The Centre looked for research where the focus was on teenagers and young adults (11-25 years) and explored the value of culture in relation to wellbeing or mental health.
The key findings were:
- Music programmes were most represented within the literature, with music composition and lyric writing in particular offering young people a creative outlet, as well as a way to cope with challenging circumstances and reflect on trauma.
- Some of the studies demonstrated that engaging with culture helped young people cope with difficult feelings and acts as a distraction from negative thoughts. The phrase ‘safe space’ was a recurring theme in the literature.
- While there’s promising evidence of the positive value of cultural experiences, there were some instances of increases in challenging behaviours or participation leading to a re-living of traumatic experiences.
- Qualitative evidence was strong, but we could not draw meaningful conclusion from the quantitative evidence we looked at. There is a need to further explore concepts of safe spaces, the role cultural practitioners have in these complex contexts and to look at longer-term outcomes through mixed methods of research.
The Centre states that while there are some promising findings emerging from the qualitative literature in relation to the role that culture can play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of young people, there is still a way to go to produce a rigorous, participant-centred evidence base in this area. The digest will be reviewed during Autumn 2022.
SOURCES:
Centre for Cultural Value: https://www.culturehive.co.uk/CVIresources/research-digest-young-peoples-mental-health/?mc_cid=c58c7cb167&mc_eid=c432520073
Research digest: https://www.culturehive.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Young-peoples-mental-health.pdf
DETAILS:
| BENEFIT: | IMPROVED MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING |
| TARGET GROUP: | YOUNG ADULTS |
| AGE: | 11-25 YEARS-OLD |
| MUSIC TYPE: | GENERAL |
| TYPE OF STUDY: | ACADEMIC DESK RESEARCH |
| NOs INVOLVED: | UNKNOWN |
| PERIOD OF STUDY: | 7 MONTHS |
| DATE: | 2021 |
| PLACE: | UK |
Photo by Joice Kelly on Unsplash
Music Education Works 
Hi Anita Happy New Year! I keep meaning to email to say thank you for the brilliant work you do on finding, sharing and filing the vast array of publications that you send out. It’s much appreciated.
All the best for 2022.
Ally
On Tue, 4 Jan 2022 at 10:51, Music Education Works wrote:
> anitanee posted: ” The latest research digest from the Centre for Cultural > Value, Young people’s mental health, explores 20 peer-reviewed, primary > research studies published between 2011 and 2021. The Centre looked for > research where the focus was on teenagers and young ad” >
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