Is Group Singing Special? Health, Well‐Being and Social Bonds in Community‐Based Adult Education Classes

Abstract

Evidence demonstrates that group singing improves health and well-being, but the precise mechanisms remain unknown. Given that cohesive social networks also positively influence health, we focus on the social aspects of singing, exploring whether improvements in health and well-being are mediated by stronger social bonds, both to the group as a whole (collectivebonding) and to individual classmates (relational-bonding). To do so, seven newly-formed community-based adult education classes (four singing, N=84, and three comparison classes studying creative writing or crafts, N=51) were followed over seven months. Self-report questionnaire data on mental and physical health, well-being, and social bonding were collected at Months 1, 3 and 7. We demonstrate that physical and mental health and satisfaction with life significantly improved over time in both conditions. Path analysis did not show any indirect effects via social bonding of Condition on health and well-being. However, higher collective-bonding at timepoint 3 significantly predicted increased flourishing, reduced anxiety and improved physical health independently of baseline levels. In contrast, relational-bonding showed no such effects, suggesting that it is feeling part of a group that particularly yields health and well-being benefits. Moreover, these results indicate that singing may not improve health and well-being more than other types of activities. Nonetheless, these findings encourage further work to refine our understanding of the social aspects of community-based adult education classes in promoting health, well-being and community cohesion.Accumulating evidence suggests that group singing can improve mental and physical health and well-being (e.g. Clift, Hancox, Staricoff, & Whitmore, 2008;Grindley, Astbury, Sharples, & Aguirre, 2011;Stewart & Lonsdale, 2016). These benefits have been reported for specific subgroups, such as homeless men (Bailey & Davidson, 2002), female prison inmates (Silber, 2005), disadvantaged adults (Dingle, Brander, Ballantyne, & Baker, 2012) and the elderly (e.g. Bungay, Clift, & Skingley, 2010;Coulton, Clift, Skingley, & Rodriguez, 2015), as well as for particular conditions such as dementia (e.g. Bannan & MontgomerySmith, 2008;Camic, Williams, & Meeten, 2013), and amongst the general population (Clift & Hancox, 2010;Grindley et al., 2011). Here we seek to establish, firstly, whether community singing has a greater impact on improving health and well-being than other regular group activities that do not involve a shared collaborative goal, such as creative * Corresponding author: Eiluned Pearce, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, 9 South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UD, eiluned.pearce@psy.ox.ac.uk, +44 1865 271 367. Europe PMC Funders GroupAuthor Manuscript J Community Appl Soc Psychol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 November 01. Europe PMC Funders Author ManuscriptsEurope PMC Funders Author Manuscripts writing and crafts, and secondly, whether any such health and well-being be...

Identification with arts‐based groups improves mental wellbeing in adults with chronic mental health conditions

“…Indeed, recent research into arts participation has shown that engaging in the arts within a group provides greater psychological benefits than engaging in arts activities alone (Stewart & Lonsdale, ; Weinberg & Joseph, ). Moreover, Pearce, Launay, Machin, and Dunbar () found that collective bonding within community ABGs predicted improvements in participants’ psychological flourishing and anxiety. However, even though research suggests that social connectedness and support is a key benefit to participating in ABGs, few studies have examined how social connectedness in ABGs improves mental wellbeing among people with CMHC (Van Lith, Schofield & Fenner, ).…”

“…No studies have yet examined social identification to ABGs in the context of CMHC. However, a recent study among community members found that the extent to which participants experienced collective bonding in singing, creative writing or crafts groups predicted benefits to health and wellbeing (Pearce et al, ). Therefore, the second hypothesis predicted that, over time, greater mental wellbeing increases should be observed when participants identified more strongly with the ABG (H2).…”

Knit One, Play One: Comparing the Effects of Amateur Knitting and Amateur Music Participation on Happiness and Wellbeing

“…Enhanced self-care, personal growth and building social connections was found from community pottery (Genoe and Liechty 2017), and artists (Reynolds 2009), knitters (Riley et al 2013), quilters (Dickie 2011) and members of singing groups (Clift et al 2010;Judd and Pooley 2014) all experienced benefits of relaxation, stress relief, creativity, feelings of happiness, and higher cognitive function. For social interaction, group knitting (Riley et al 2013) and group singing (Pearce et al 2016) both helped enhance social contact and forge social bonds. Art and craft activities helped retired older adults regain occupational identity (Howie et al 2004) and pleasure and purpose (Liddle et al 2013).…”

“…Some research has begun to directly contrast different creative activities. Pearce and colleagues compared newly-formed singing, creative writing and crafting groups, finding more rapid social bonding in the music group (Pearce et al 2015) but no group differences after 7 months on wellbeing measures (Pearce et al 2016). Johnson et al (2017) found higher levels of physical (but not psychological) quality of life in older adult choir singers compared to other older adults, including those involved in other hobbies.…”

“…This thus combines the large-scale quantitative approach of surveys and controlled trials (e.g. Pearce et al 2016;Riley et al 2013) with that of more in-depth qualitative enquiries (e.g. Dickie 2011;Reynolds 2009;Lamont et al 2018).…”