Culture and mental health resilience in times of COVID-19

Abstract

This paper aims to clarify the role of culture as a public good that serves to preserve mental health. It tests the evolutionary hypothesis that cultural consumption triggers a microeconomic mechanism for the self-defense of mental health from uncertainty. The COVID-19 pandemic offers a natural experiment of cultural consumption under increased uncertainty. Using primary data from a pilot survey conducted online during the pandemic and applying Probit and Heckman selection models, the study analyzes levels of happiness and propensity to help others. The results suggest that past consumption of culture is associated with higher happiness levels during crises. Moreover, spontaneous cultural practices (such as group singing) during times of uncertainty are associated with an increase in the pro-social propensity to help others. These findings highlight culture as a tool for promoting mental health at the micro level and social capital resilience at the aggregate level.

Narrative resilience in the cross-regional support of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 outbreak: The Chinese experiences of cultural input

“…CBD views culture as a “story of stories” and divides culture into two types, namely: past culture, which is termed cultural heritage (CH), and present norms and beliefs and their related goods and services, termed living culture (LC), both of which are parts of cultural capital [ 45 ]. In this case, the Chinese party and government cultural is LC, while Chinese cultural heritage is CH.…”

"The Better You Feel, the Harder You Fall": Health Perception Biases and Mental Health Among Chinese Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Accordingly, we introduce life satisfaction and happiness as positive and depression as negative measures of mental health. These measures have been used in other studies related to the COVID-19 pandemic and also routinely in the well-being literature (see, e.g., Dolan et al, 2019;Lu, Nie, & Qian, 2020;Tubadji, 2021;Yamamura & Tsustsui, 2021). Taplin, 2007).…”

Geographies of Flowers and Geographies of Flower Power

“…When there is threat, the alert of the other animals is a guarantee to give a signal for the threat. Similarly, the potential to signal threat and to learn optimal survival behaviour is a value added from living in human groups (such as cities) (see [36]). This take is very much in line with Glaeser's [11] learning city hypothesis which suggests that people like to live in places where they can learn from other people.…”

“…Indifferent of the methods used, the results remain essentially the same as what was presented and analysed above. Meanwhile, we present the more analytically minded approach of the hierarchical model, rather than the cultural fixed effects approach, due to the considerable criticism that the use of fixed effects can face (see [36]). Tables of the additional estimations are available upon request from the authors.…”