Pandemic and Subjective Well-being. An Exploratory Study in an Urban Population and Moderator Effect from Cultural Participation

Abstract

In the last twenty years a growing literature has highlighted the role of social and cultural activities in fostering individual and community well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic had an important impact on individuals and communities, given the lockdown policies enacted, causing the unexpected and forced abandonment of these activities. The present work investigated the impacts caused by the Covid-19, and the consequent suspension of all social and cultural opportunities, on individual subjective well-being.

The analysis is based on two surveys: the first undertaken in January 2020 (t1), and a second carried out one year later in February 2021 (t2), on a sample (n 401) of a town lying in the metropolitan area of Milan (Italy). We used the PGWBI - Psychological General Well-Being Index to assess the psychological aspect and to measure the influence of the social and cultural dimensions.

Overall, the results show an increase in psychological well-being between the t1 and t2 (2020: 62.99; 2021: 65.43). This slight increase is particularly associated with young people and individuals in the student/unemployed categories, where a significant change was recorded. These findings are somewhat counterintuitive in relation to the existing literature in the field. Regarding the impact of lockdown policies on the social and cultural dimensions, the analysis reveals a decline in social and cultural participation between T1 and T2, yet a concurrent positive effect on individual psychological well-being.