Categories: News

Arts, culture and recreation positive for the wellbeing of rangatahi

Research from AUT demonstrates arts, culture and recreation have positive impacts on all aspects of children’s wellbeing.

<h2><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">Children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand who participate in arts&comma; culture and recreation experience better wellbeing&comma; including higher school engagement&period; <&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">This finding comes from Auckland’s University of Technology &lpar;AUT&rpar;&comma; which released the <&sol;span><i><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">Arts&comma; Culture and Recreation Participation and Wellbeing Amongst 12-Year-Olds <&sol;span><&sol;i><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">report on Children’s Day last month&period; The study drew on the Growing Up in New Zealand study &lpar;GUiNZ&rpar; which follows over 6000 young people and their families from birth&comma; and examines young peoples’ participation in extracurricular and free-time activities&period; It follows an earlier report that found 97 percent of young people participate in extracurricular and free-time activities&period;<&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;latest-print-issue&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><b>Read the latest print edition of <em>School News<&sol;em> online HERE&period;<&sol;b><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">Free-time activities were defined as activities that young people choose to participate in during their own time&comma; and could include&colon; reading&comma; physical activity&comma; arts and crafts and listening to music&period; Extracurricular activities were defined as structured and organised activities like cultural and community groups&comma; sports&comma; and art&comma; music or drama lessons&period;<&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">Wellbeing was defined using a holistic M&amacr;ori model of health that examined four key areas&colon; wairua &lpar;spiritual health&rpar;&comma; tinana &lpar;bodily health&rpar;&comma; ng&amacr;kau &lpar;emotional health&rpar; and here tangata &lpar;social and familial ties&rpar;&period;<&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;2025-ai-in-education-survey&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Do you&comma; your students and&sol;or your school use generative AI&quest; Take our anonymous survey here&excl; Results will be used to inform our upcoming term two special report on AI in education&period;<&sol;a><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">The report found that young people who engage in many different extracurricular activities and free-time activities report better wellbeing across the four areas&comma; and higher school engagement&period; Young people with high levels of participation had stronger peer and parent-child relationships&comma; better quality of life and health&comma; stronger school engagement and a stronger sense of cultural identity&period; <&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">Lead researcher Dr Rebecca Evans says the report deepens understandings of the mechanism behind wellbeing boosts for rangatahi involved in arts&comma; culture and recreation&period; <&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;26297" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-26297" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-26297" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;05&sol;AdobeStock&lowbar;564164833-1-300x197&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"197" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-26297" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Participation in five or more extracurriculars was associated with strong wellbeing scores&period; ©nina&sol;peopleimages&period;com- stock&period;adobe&period;com<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto"> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Kids that do at least five extracurricular activities &lpar;like sport practice&comma; music lessons or kapa haka&rpar; have the strongest wellbeing scores&period;  This effect was also seen where young people participated in at least four regular free-time activities &lpar;like drawing or playing outdoors&rpar;&period;”<&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">Although the report found that the relationship between wellbeing and participation in arts culture and recreation activities held true across most demographics&comma; the strength of this relationship was moderated by gender and ethnicity for some aspects of wellbeing&period; <&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">Cis-gender girls had the strongest relationship between participating in free-time activities and school engagement&period; Health-related quality of life and free-time activities was strongest for young Pacific people&period; <&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">Young people living with disability had a more complex pattern of wellbeing outcomes&period; Participation in arts&comma; cultural and recreation activities only had a weak positive effect on parent-child relationships and school engagement&period; For young people with disability participating in ng&amacr; toi M&amacr;ori activities&comma; however&comma; there was a strong positive association between participation and parent-child relationships&period; <&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">Evans notes&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We also specifically examined participation in ng&amacr; toi M&amacr;ori activities and found that they contribute positively to wellbeing across demographics&comma; including better school engagement&period; The report suggests that opportunities to engage in ng&amacr; toi M&amacr;ori activities should be provided whenever possible&period;”<&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">For rangatahi M&amacr;ori&comma; participating in ng&amacr; toi M&amacr;ori activities was also associated with lowered anxiety&period; Transgender and nonbinary young people showed the strongest association between ng&amacr; toi M&amacr;ori involvement and school engagement&comma; highlighting the enhanced benefits some young people receive from participating in arts&comma; culture and recreation&period; <&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">Although the report examines associations and doesn’t imply causality&comma; it says the findings &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;strengthen&lbrack;s&rsqb; direct links between arts&comma; cultural and recreation participation and wellbeing amongst youth in this sample&period;<&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Findings from this research have significant policy and practice implications&comma; as all young people should have ready access to a variety of arts&comma; culture and recreation activities&period;”<&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<&sol;span><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">It is also recommended that resources highlight the benefits of time spent engaging in extracurricular and free-time activities across settings for all young people&period; When provided in inclusive environments&comma; these activities build a sense of belonging where young people are free to build relationships&comma; extend their support networks&comma; and develop a sense of who they are and their place in the world&period;”<&sol;span><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span data-contrast&equals;"auto">The full report and is available for download at the <&sol;span><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mch&period;govt&period;nz&sol;publications&sol;arts-culture-and-recreation-participation-and-wellbeing-amongst-12-year-olds-2025" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank"><span data-contrast&equals;"none">Manat&umacr; Taonga &vert; Ministry for Culture &amp&semi; Heritage website&period;<&sol;span><&sol;a><span data-ccp-props&equals;"&lbrace;&rcub;"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Naomii Seah

Naomii Seah is a writer and journalist from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. She has been covering education in New Zealand since 2022.

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