Feeling blue? Arts attendance as a moderator of the effect of neuroticism on subjective well-being: evidence from two national panel studies

Neuroticism has long been known as a risk factor for reduced happiness and impaired health. And yet, despite the growing evidence linking arts engagement to happiness, the question remains: Do people high in neuroticism benefit from arts engagement? Using data from two nationally representative panel studies from Germany (N = 874) and Switzerland (N = 6,336) we examined whether arts attendance moderates the relation between neuroticism and subjective well-being. Results showed that popular arts attendance moderated the effect of neuroticism on life satisfaction and positive affect in the German sample. Quite similar results were observed in the Swiss sample, where arts attendance acted as a protective factor but only for life satisfaction. Arts attendance, however, did not serve as a moderator of the relation between neuroticism and negative affect in both samples. Even so, taken together, these findings further confirm the contribution of arts engagement to subjective well-being and illustrate the importance of its promotion among people scoring high in neuroticism.