Age and Recognition for One’s Creative Hobby Are Associated With Fewer Depressive Symptoms in Middle-Aged and Older Adults

Abstract

Self-perceived creativity and participation in a serious leisure activity have been associated with multiple benefits for middle-aged and older adults, including having fewer depressive symptoms. The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which the psychological benefits gained from participating in one form of serious leisure activity, a creative hobby, may act as a buffer against depression. Additionally, the study investigated whether that buffering effect went beyond that of age and thinking of oneself as an overall creative person. A total of 268 participants, all of whom reported they were 40 years old or over, completed self-report measures including the Scale of Creative Attributes and Behavior (SCAB; used to measure self-perceived creativity), the Creative Benefits Scale (CBS; used to measure psychological benefits that people may experience as a result of long-term participation in a creative hobby), and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; measuring depressive symptoms). A hierarchical regression of depressive symptoms was conducted with age in Step 1, the SCAB total score in Step 2, and the four subscales of the CBS in Step 3. The CBS was related to lower depressive symptoms, even after age and the SCAB total score were entered. However, the relationship between the CBS and depressive symptoms was driven by mainly one subscale, Recognition. These findings suggest that, for middle-aged and older adults, receiving recognition from others for their creative hobby may provide a greater buffer to depression than do age and self-perceived creativity.

Full text

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts
Age and Recognition for One’s Creative Hobby Are Associated With Fewer
Depressive Symptoms in Middle-Aged and Older Adults
Sarah M. Israel, Carolyn E. Adams-Price, Courtney J. Bolstad, and Danielle K. Nadorff
Online First Publication, December 3, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/aca0000366
CITATION
Israel, S. M., Adams-Price, C. E., Bolstad, C. J., & Nadorff, D. K. (2020, December 3). Age and Recognition for One’s
Creative Hobby Are Associated With Fewer Depressive Symptoms in Middle-Aged and Older Adults. Psychology of
Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/aca0000366

Age and Recognition for One’s Creative Hobby Are Associated With
Fewer Depressive Symptoms in Middle-Aged and Older Adults
Sarah M. Israel, Carolyn E. Adams-Price, Courtney J. Bolstad, and Danielle K. Nadorff
Department of Psychology, Mississippi State University
Self-perceived creativity and participation in a serious leisure activity have been associated with multiple
benefits for middle-aged and older adults, including having fewer depressive symptoms. The purpose of
this study was to examine the degree to which the psychological benefits gained from participating in one
form of serious leisure activity, a creative hobby, may act as a buffer against depression. Additionally,
the study investigated whether that buffering effect went beyond that of age and thinking of oneself as
an overall creative person. A total of 268 participants, all of whom reported they were 40 years old or
over, completed self-report measures including the Scale of Creative Attributes and Behavior (SCAB;
used to measure self-perceived creativity), the Creative Benefits Scale (CBS; used to measure psycho-
logical benefits that people may experience as a result of long-term participation in a creative hobby), and
the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; measuring depressive symptoms). A
hierarchical regression of depressive symptoms was conducted with age in Step 1, the SCAB total score
in Step 2, and the four subscales of the CBS in Step 3. The CBS was related to lower depressive
symptoms, even after age and the SCAB total score were entered. However, the relationship between the
CBS and depressive symptoms was driven by mainly one subscale, Recognition. These findings suggest
that, for middle-aged and older adults, receiving recognition from others for their creative hobby may
provide a greater buffer to depression than do age and self-perceived creativity.
Keywords: creativity, arts, serious leisure, depression, well-being
During the past 20 years, the scientific community has become
increasingly interested in determining the effects of creative en-
gagement on the well-being of older adults (Fraser et al., 2015).
Benefits thought to be accrued from creative participation include
better quality of life, better health, more social engagement, and
increased self-confidence, as well as an increased likelihood of
successful aging (Gallistl, 2018). In this case, the concept of
successful aging is perhaps best operationalized by Baltes and
Baltes (1990), who defined successful aging as a positive adapta-
tion to later life. By this definition, there are several other aspects
of successful aging that creative engagement may impact. For
example, a study by D. C. Park and colleagues (2014) found
evidence to suggest that learning and participating in a new cre-
ative hobby may even improve cognitive functioning in older
adults. However, not much is known about whether creative en-
gagement is still a powerful predictor of successful aging even
after considering other factors like age and creativity.
One such aspect of well-being and successful aging in older
adults is the absence of depression and depressive symptomology.
Although depression is less commonly diagnosed in older adults
than in younger adults (Hasin et al., 2005), it is the most common
mental health problem of later life (World Health Organization,
2017). Depression is also thought to be harder to recognize in older
adults, and consequently, it may be underdiagnosed (National
Institute on Aging, 2017). This is largely because older adults with
depression are more likely to present with symptoms like memory
difficulties, social withdrawal, and complaints of pain, rather than
the sadness that characterizes depression in younger groups (Na-
tional Alliance on Mental Illness, 2009). A review by Fiske and
colleagues (2009) further emphasized that older adults are more
likely to endorse somatic symptoms, changes in cognitive func-
tioning, and anhedonia than are younger adults. In addition, a more
recent study by Schaakxs and colleagues (2017) found that older
adults with depression more often endorsed loss of sexual interest
and symptoms of insomnia, whereas younger adults more fre-
quently reported interpersonal sensitivity, irritability, and hyper-
somnia. It should be noted that all of these symptoms are potential
symptoms of major depressive disorder, as described in the Diag-
nostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; Amer-
ican Psychiatric Association, 2013). However, the atypical symp-
tom presentation of older adults may lead primary care providers
Sarah M. Israel Xhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7188-0891
Carolyn E. Adams-Price Xhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1611-6449
Courtney J. Bolstad Xhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2297-2778
Danielle K. Nadorff Xhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7091-0614
We have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sarah M.
Israel, Department of Psychology, Mississippi State University, 128A Park
Circle, Starkville, MS 39759, United States. Email: smi61@msstate.edu
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts
© 2020 American Psychological Association 2020, Vol. 2, No. 999, 000
ISSN: 1931-3896 https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000366
1

to attribute these symptoms to somatic illness or stressful life
events rather than depression (M. Park & Unützer, 2012).
Extant research regarding creativity and depression has been
decidedly mixed. Whereas some studies have suggested that cre-
ativity is negatively associated with depressive symptoms (Schul-
dberg, 2001), others have suggested that creativity is positively
associated with depressive symptoms (Verhaeghen et al., 2005).
However, some of this lean in the literature may be because several
of these studies specifically aimed to examine the relationship
between creativity and mental health diagnoses, especially bipolar
disorder (Silvia & Kimbrel, 2010). Indeed, people have been
contemplating how creativity and mental illness relate since at
least the 1830s (Becker, 2001). Similarly, as Andreasen (2008)
pointed out, perhaps the most common approach to studying
creativity and mental health outcomes involves the use of homo-
geneous samples of highly creative individuals like professional
artists. Although some studies have drawn comparisons between
these highly creative individuals and the general population. For
example, one such study found that people working in creative
fields (e.g., professional dancers, writers, photographers) were 8%
more likely to have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder (Kyaga et al.,
2013). Professional writers, in particular, were a startling 121%
more likely have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and were 50%
more likely to die by suicide than were the general population.
Similarly, Vaag et al. (2016) found that professional musicians
report significantly more symptoms of anxiety and depression than
does the normal workforce. The obvious problem with studies of
this nature, then, is that they do not generalize to the general
population. Afterall, there are many factors on which professional
artists differ from the general population. For example, existing
research has suggested that fine artists (Roy, 1996) and musicians
(Kemp, 1996) both tend to be more introverted than the general
population. Similarly, other studies have found that artists (Burch
et al., 2006) and musicians (Gillespie & Myors, 2000; Kemp,
1996) tend to be more neurotic than are the general population as
well. These characteristics of professional creatives are noteworthy
given that both introversion and neuroticism have been linked to
depression (Kotov et al., 2010). In addition, the need for a higher
rate of creative output for the sake of artists’ and musicians’
continued livelihood dramatically increases the level of stress
related to their creative activities (Barker et al., 2009). Therefore,
although these professional artists may strongly identify as cre-
ative individuals—so much so that they chose a profession that
allows them to exercise this creativity—this creativity does not
offer them the same protection from depressive symptoms that the
general population may receive. That is why for the current study,
it is important to note that we examined self-perceived creativity in
the general population, with an emphasis on potential psycholog-
ical benefits that can be gained from creative activities performed
as a hobby or a form of leisure activity.
Compared to research on creativity and aging in the past liter-
ature, the current body of research has tended to focus less on
overall creativity as an aspect of personality and more on the
benefits that accrue from longer and more intense participation in
one or just a few creative hobbies. Many older adults who have a
creative hobby do not really think of themselves as “creative,” but
they may still accrue significant benefits from that hobby (Kar-
wowski, 2016). It seems that in later life, creative self-efficacy
(i.e., perception of being skilled at a creative task or tasks) may be
more important than perceiving oneself as an overall creative
person (Karwowski, 2016). Given that self-efficacy for a given
activity or task is most effectively developed through repeated
successful attempts at the task and persevering through failures
(Bandura, 1994), the process of developing creative self-efficacy
takes time.
Over the course of this time, participation in a creative hobby
can develop into a form of “serious leisure” as described in
sociology literature. Stebbins (2015, p. 5) defines serious leisure as
the continuing pursuit of a specific hobby, sport, or volunteer
activity of such intrinsic interest and potential fulfillment to the
participant that they turn it into a type of career, with the goal of
acquiring considerable knowledge, skill, and experience over time.
Defined as such, serious leisure is distinct from casual leisure,
which is a relatively short-lived pleasurable core activity that is
immediately and intrinsically rewarding and requires little or no
special training, and project-based leisure, which is a short-term,
fairly complicated creative undertaking performed either one-shot
or occasionally, if infrequently, in one’s spare time (Stebbins,
2015). Although on the surface creative hobby participation may
seem to fit into the project-based leisure category, we argue that
when performed with more regularity and with the intention of
developing self-efficacy, it becomes a form of serious leisure. This
is an important distinction because studies like Chen (2014) have
reported a strong relation between having a serious leisure hobby
and improved well-being in older adults. Further research has
suggested that participation in leisure activities and hobbies may
act as a buffer against poor mental health and depression in
middle-aged and older adults. For example, a study of middle-aged
Japanese adults found that leisure activities including hobbies and
cultural activities were related to lower levels of distress (Takeda
et al., 2015). Meanwhile, studies of older Chinese adults in both
urban (Shao et al., 2017) and residential care (Ouyang et al., 2015)
settings have found that having hobbies and participating in leisure
activities, respectively, were associated with having fewer symp-
toms of depression. Similarly, a more recent study conducted in
the United States also found that having leisure activities was
associated with fewer symptoms of depression (Sharifian et al.,
2020). Given that creative activities can be considered hobbies and
(serious) leisure activities, it is unsurprising that they have been
associated with quality of life, better health, more social engage-
ment, and increased self-confidence (Gallistl, 2018), as described
above.
Taking this a step further, existing literature has also suggested
that longer term participation in a single creative activity has
benefits that are different from the benefits of participating once or
twice in a lot of different creative activities (Adams-Price et al.,
2018). One potential explanation for this finding is that long term
participation may promote the development of expertise and cre-
ative self-efficacy. To examine the benefits of longer term partic-
ipation in a single creative hobby, Adams-Price and colleagues
(2018) developed the Creative Benefits Scale (CBS). The CBS
comprises four subscales, including Identity, Spirituality, Calming,
and Recognition. Identity indicates to what degree participants feel
like their creative hobby is a part of their self-concept. The
Spirituality subscale indicates the degree to which participants
report that participating in their hobby makes them feel closer to
God or nature. Calming indicates to what degree participants
believe that taking part in their creative hobby helps them relax.
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2ISRAEL, ADAMS-PRICE, BOLSTAD, AND NADORFF

Last, Recognition indicates to what degree participants believe
they are recognized or appreciated by others for their creative
hobby. These subscales have been shown to relate to general
benefits and positive development in mid- and late life, including
improvements in well-being, life satisfaction, and generativity
(Adams-Price & Morse, 2018). Furthermore, Adams-Price and
colleagues (2018) also found that creative hobby participation
provided slightly different benefits for middle-aged and older
adults. Specifically, they found that middle-aged adults experi-
enced more calming and relaxation benefits from creative hobby
participation, compared to older adults (aged 60 years and older).
However, no previous research has examined how these creative
benefits may relate to depressive symptoms.
The goal of the current study was to examine how age, perceiv-
ing oneself as a creative person, and various aspects of creative
hobby participation were associated with depressive symptoms in
middle-aged and older adults. Based on existing literature, we
developed several a priori hypotheses. First, based on the lower
prevalence of depression in older adults (World Health Organiza-
tion, 2017) and findings in our previous study that older age was
associated with greater life satisfaction (Adams-Price et al., 2018),
we hypothesized that older age would be associated with fewer
symptoms of depression. Second, despite mixed findings regarding
the relationship between creativity and depression, we predicted
that, because we used a community sample, higher self-perceived
creativity would also be associated with fewer symptoms of de-
pression. Last, we hypothesized that the CBS subscales would be
associated with fewer depressive symptoms above and beyond age
and overall self-perceived creativity. Specifically, we hypothe-
sized that the Identity and Recognition subscales would be asso-
ciated with fewer depressive symptoms. Although no previous
research has been performed on how the CBS subscales relate to
depression specifically, we made predictions based on the function
of each subscale. Thus, we expected higher scores on Identity
would predict fewer depressive symptoms because we thought the
Identity subscale may capture aspects of self-esteem and self-
efficacy. Because both self-esteem (Sowislo & Orth, 2013) and
self-efficacy (Davis-Berman, 1988; Janko & Smeds, 2019) have
been found to be negatively associated with depression and de-
pressive symptoms, we expected that higher scores on Identity
would be negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Simi-
larly, we expected that higher scores on Recognition would be
related to experiencing social support in the form of feeling ap-
preciated, respected, and valued, as well as potentially having
better access to social assistance. This is important because pre-
vious research has suggested that social support is negatively
associated with depressive symptoms (Roohafza et al., 2014). This
contrasts with our hypothesis that Spirituality and Calming would
not be significant predictors of depressive symptoms. Although
spirituality is negatively related to depression and depressive
symptoms, we did not think that the Spirituality subscale was
necessarily be indicative of a person having greater spirituality (the
construct). Furthermore, we thought that Spirituality would be
more subject to individual differences because people may widely
differ in whether spirituality plays a role in their chosen creative
hobby. For some individuals, their creative hobby may be directly
related to their religious or spiritual practices. For example, indi-
viduals who reported painting as their chosen hobby may be
painting portraits of strangers, friends, saints, and so forth.
Whereas individuals who reported jewelry making as their chosen
hobby may be making anything from nonsecular jewelry to things
like crucifixes, rosaries, prayer bracelets, and so forth. We sus-
pected that Calming would be similarly impacted by individual
differences. For example, some individuals may have chosen their
hobby specifically as a method of relaxation, and others may have
chosen their hobby simply because they always wanted to try the
activity or thought the activity would be interesting. Furthermore,
based on the face validity of Calming being indicative of people
using their creative activity as a relaxation activity, we thought this
subscale would be more strongly associated with fewer symptoms
of stress and anxiety. Although both chronic stress (Hammen et al.,
2009) and anxiety (Salcedo, 2018) are related to depression, our
analyses examine depressive symptoms as the sole outcome vari-
able. Thus, we did not predict that Calming would be directly
associated with depressive symptoms.
Method
Participants
Recruitment
Administrators, individuals responsible for managing group
membership and posting privileges, from approximately 100 on-
line groups dedicated to participation in specific creative hobbies
(e.g., pottery, acting, stained glass, creative writing, needlework,
playing stringed instruments, oil painting, singing) were contacted
and asked for permission to post advertisements calling for adults
40 and over who regularly participated in a creative hobby to
complete questionnaires on the importance of those activities to
their well-being. We chose this relatively broad age range because
our previous research (Adams-Price et al., 2018) showed that
middle-aged adults experienced similar but slightly different ben-
efits compared to adults over 65 years of age. As such, we wanted
to capture the full range of middle adulthood to late life, in order
to probe age-related differences should they arise. Persons who
indicated that they were interested in participation were sent a link
to the study. Participants were provided with a list of 47 different
creative hobbies (e.g., playing a musical instrument, composing
music, creative writing, painting, pottery) that was generated by
reviewing online discussion groups for creative hobbies. Partici-
pants were then asked to indicate all hobbies they had engaged in
at least once in the last 2 years. They were also offered the
opportunity to provide their own response if one or more of the
creative hobbies they had participated in were not on the provided
list. Participants were then asked to indicate what their primary
creative hobby was.
Demographics
Participants were 268 adults between the ages of 40 and 84
years old, who completed all necessary items from the survey
conducted by Adams-Price et al. (2018). Of these participants, the
average age was 58.1 years (SD ⫽9.0), and 78.7% of participants
were female. The participants reported a variety of primary cre-
ative hobbies, including visual arts (e.g., drawing, painting, sculp-
ture, ceramics, photography), fiber arts (e.g., weaving, crocheting,
knitting, sewing, quilting), beading and jewelry making, music,
dance, writing, doll making, leather crafts, woodworking and
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3
AGE AND RECOGNITION OF CREATIVE HOBBIES

model making, metalworking and mechanics, digital and elec-
tronic activities, cooking and baking, gardening and horticulture,
and game-related activities (e.g., role playing, word games, and
creating puzzles). The distributions of these activities are described
in Table 1. How long participants had been participating in their
primary creative hobby was measured categorically. Approxi-
mately 88.8% of participants reported that they had participated in
their creative hobby for more than 5 years. Meanwhile, only 5.2%
reported they had been participating in their hobby for 2–5 years;
4.1% reported they had been participating for 1–2 years; 0.7%
reported they had been participating for 6 months to 1 year, and
1.1% reported they had been participating for less than 6 months.
Measures
CBS
The CBS is a scale that was designed to measure four types of
psychological and social benefits that people may experience as a
result of long-term participation in a favorite creative hobby
(Adams-Price et al., 2018). The scale contains 22 unique items
with four items that load onto two subscales each. On a 5-point
Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree)to5(strongly
agree), participants rate each item as it relates to their selected
creative hobby. Sample items include “Practicing my hobby helps
me grow as a person” and “Participating in my hobby calms me.”
The CBS includes four subscales: Identity, Calming, Spirituality,
and Recognition, as described above. The Identity subscale in-
cludes nine items; the Calming subscale includes four items; the
Spirituality subscale includes seven items; and the Recognition
subscale includes six items. All four subscales have demonstrated
high alpha reliability scores (.86 for Identity, .77 for Calming, .90
for Spirituality, and .82 for Recognition; Adams-Price et al., 2018).
Subscale scores were calculated by summing the scores of indi-
vidual items within that subscale. Although we utilized data from
the same sample in Adams-Price et al. (2018), we analyzed only
data from participants who completed every item of the measures
included in this study. Thus, to ensure the reliability of these
subscales with the current sample, we conducted a reliability
analysis. All four subscales demonstrated high alpha reliability
scores (.85 for Identity, .71 for Calming, .90 for Spirituality, and
.81 for Recognition), which are consistent with the alpha reliabili-
ties of the full sample (Adams-Price et al., 2018).
Scale of Creative Attributes and Behavior
To measure self-perceived creativity, we used the Scale of
Creative Attributes and Behavior (SCAB; Kelly, 2004), which was
designed as a multidimensional measure of five underlying com-
ponents of creativity identified in previous research: Creative
Engagement, Creative Cognitive Style, Spontaneity, Tolerance,
and Fantasy. Creative Engagement refers to enjoying and regularly
spending time working on creative activities. Creative Cognitive
Style refers to divergent thinking and problem-solving. Spontane-
ity refers to a style of impulsivity and excitement-seeking behav-
ior. Tolerance refers to an attitude of flexibility and openness to
ideas and experiences. Finally, Fantasy refers to the mental activ-
ities associated with creativity, such as daydreaming. The total
scale and five individual subscales all have demonstrated high
alpha reliability scores (.75 for the total scale, .82 for Creative
Engagement, .69 for Creative Cognitive Style, .75 for Spontaneity,
.72 for Tolerance, and .70 for Fantasy; Kelly, 2004). Because our
goal was to examine how overall self-perceived creativity is re-
lated to depressive symptoms, we decided to use the SCAB total
score in our analyses. The SCAB total scale score was calculated
by summing all items of the scale. To determine the reliability of
the SCAB total score in the current study, we conducted a reli-
ability analysis. The results indicated that the SCAB total score in
this sample was highly reliable (␣⫽.84), which is consistent with
findings by Kelly (2004).
Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale
The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale
(CES-D; Radloff, 1977) is a 20-item scale that measures six major
symptoms of depression, including depressed mood, feelings of
guilt and worthlessness, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness,
changes in psychomotor activity, changes in appetite, and sleep
disturbances. Total CES-D score was calculated by summing in-
dividual item scores. Previous research has demonstrated that the
CES-D is an effective tool for detecting depression in older adults
(Irwin et al., 1999; Kumar et al., 2016). Furthermore, a study by
Cosco and colleagues (2017) found that the CES-D was highly
reliable (␣⫽.90) for a sample of 1,233 participants with a mean
age of 57.3 years old. However, to further ensure the reliability of
the CES-D for the current sample, we conducted a reliability
analysis. The results of this analysis indicated that the reliability of
the CES-D for this sample was excellent (␣⫽.92), which is
consistent with previous research (Cosco et al., 2017).
Results
Correlations
As can be seen in Table 2, only age and Recognition were
significantly negatively correlated with the outcome variable of
depressive symptoms. However, it should be noted that if a cor-
Table 1
Categories of Reported Primary Hobby
Creative hobby Frequency %
1. Visual arts 36 13.43
2. Fiber arts 119 44.40
3. Beading 18 6.72
4. Music 19 7.09
5. Dance 2 0.75
6. Writing 7 2.61
7. Doll making 1 0.37
8. Leather crafts 2 0.75
9. Woodworking and model making 9 3.36
10. Metalworking and mechanics 5 1.87
11. Digital and electronic activities 3 1.12
12. Cooking and baking 3 1.12
13. Gardening and horticulture 7 2.61
14. Game-related activities 9 3.36
15. Unspecified or multiple reported
a
28 10.45
Note.N⫽268.
a
Some participants failed to specify their primary hobby, and others
reported two or more hobbies from different categories that they expressed
were of equal importance.
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4ISRAEL, ADAMS-PRICE, BOLSTAD, AND NADORFF

rection for multiple comparisons is applied, the negative correla-
tion between Recognition and depressive symptoms is no longer
significant.
Hierarchical Regression
A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to determine
the contributions of the creativity variables on depressive symp-
toms. The hierarchical regression analysis included three blocks
(Step 1 through Step 3), and variables were entered simultaneously
in each block. In Step 1, participant age was entered because age
is known to be significantly negatively related to depressive symp-
toms in older adults (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
2012). The SCAB total score was placed in Step 2, and Step 3
contained the four scales of the CBS. The variance inflation factor
(VIF) statistics showed no significant multicollinearity (average
VIF ⫽1.513, all Tolerance: ⬎0.2).
As shown in Table 3, age was significantly negatively related to
depressive symptoms in Step 1 (⌬R
2
⫽.05, p⬍.001). The SCAB
total score was added in Step 2 and did not significantly relate to
depressive symptoms (⌬R
2
⫽.01, p⫽.186). In Step 3, the four
scales of the CBS were entered, and this model significantly
related to depressive symptoms (⌬R
2
⫽.03, p⫽.046). In this step,
age continued to be significantly negatively related to depressive
symptoms (␤⫽⫺.22, p⬍.001). Of the four CBS subscales, only
Recognition was significantly negatively related to depressive
symptoms (␤⫽⫺.23, p⫽.004).
Age as a Moderator
Based on our previous findings (Adams-Price et al., 2018) that
suggested middle-aged and older adults receive slightly different
benefits from their participation in a creative hobby, we decided to
perform additional post hoc analyses on whether age moderated
the relationship between the four subscales of the CBS and de-
pressive symptoms. The PROCESS macro for SPSS (Hayes, 2013)
was used to model four single moderation models (PROCESS
Model 1) to test this proposition. However, none of the PROCESS
models found a significant moderation effect of age on the rela-
tionship between the subscales of the CBS and depressive symp-
toms (all psⱖ.45).
Discussion
The goal of the current study was to examine how age, perceiv-
ing oneself as a creative person, and various aspects of creative
hobby participation are associated with depressive symptoms in
middle-aged and older adults. Hypothesis 1 was that age would be
negatively associated with depressive symptoms. This hypothesis
was fully supported by our results. Hypothesis 2 was that self-
perceived creativity as measured by the SCAB would also be
negatively associated with depressive symptoms. However, our
results did not support this hypothesis. Self-perceived creativity
was not significantly associated with depressive symptoms in
either direction. Despite the mixed findings regarding creativity
Table 2
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations of Predictor and Outcome Variables
Variable MSD 1 2 3456
1. Age 58.13 9.04 —
2. SCAB total 110.89 13.25 ⫺.12
ⴱ
—
3. Identity 36.84 5.23 ⫺.08 .40
ⴱⴱⴱ
—
4. Spirituality 13.24 4.27 ⫺.07 .30
ⴱⴱⴱ
.57
ⴱⴱⴱ
—
5. Calming 13.69 1.55 ⫺.11 .23
ⴱⴱⴱ
.35
ⴱⴱⴱ
.31
ⴱⴱⴱ
—
6. Recognition 21.55 2.71 ⫺.04 .40
ⴱⴱⴱ
.64
ⴱⴱⴱ
.39
ⴱⴱⴱ
.39
ⴱⴱⴱ
—
7. CES-D 10.38 9.84 ⫺.22
ⴱⴱⴱ
⫺.05 .04 .05 .01 ⫺.12
ⴱ
Note.N⫽268. SCAB ⫽Scale of Creative Attributes and Behavior; CES-D ⫽Center for Epidemiological
Studies Depression Scale. Correlations in italics are not significant if corrected for multiple comparisons.
ⴱ
p⬍.05.
ⴱⴱⴱ
p⬍.001.
Table 3
Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Depression
Variable
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
bSEb␤bSEb␤bSEb␤
Age ⫺0.24
ⴱⴱⴱ
0.07 ⫺.22
ⴱⴱⴱ
⫺0.25
ⴱⴱⴱ
0.07 ⫺.23
ⴱⴱⴱ
⫺0.24
ⴱⴱⴱ
0.07 ⫺.22
ⴱⴱⴱ
SCAB total ⫺0.06 0.05 ⫺.08 ⫺0.05 0.05 ⫺.07
Identity 0.32 0.16 .17
Spirituality 0.10 0.17 .04
Calming 0.13 0.42 .02
Recognition ⫺0.85
ⴱⴱ
0.29 ⫺.23
ⴱⴱ
R
2
.05 .05 .09
⌬R
2
.05 .01 .03
Ffor change in R
2
13.46
ⴱⴱⴱ
1.76 2.46
ⴱ
Note.N⫽268.
ⴱ
p⬍.05.
ⴱⴱ
p⬍.01.
ⴱⴱⴱ
p⬍.001.
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5
AGE AND RECOGNITION OF CREATIVE HOBBIES

and depressive symptoms in the literature, we thought our com-
munity sample of middle-aged and older adult members of online
creative activity clubs would lean toward benefitting from perceiv-
ing themselves as creative. The lack of this association may be due
to sampling bias. In other words, individuals who join these types
of online creative activity clubs may vary widely in their preex-
isting mental health and personality. Therefore, our assumption
that this sample would be more like samples that have had a
negative association between creativity and depressive symptoms
(Schuldberg, 2001) may have been unfounded. Furthermore, this
result may have been impacted by our use specifically of self-rated
creativity over a more objective measure of creativity. Indeed, a
study by Reiter-Palmon and colleagues (2012) found that self-
report measures of creativity did not significantly correlate with
objective measures of creativity. Last, we hypothesized that the
CBS would be negatively associated with depressive symptoms
even after accounting for age and self-perceived creativity. Spe-
cifically, we hypothesized that the Identity and Recognition sub-
scales would be negatively associated with depressive symptoms.
This hypothesis was partially supported by our results. Our find-
ings indicated that Recognition, but not Identity, was negatively
associated with depressive symptoms. Although our findings in-
dicated that the SCAB total and CBS subscales are significantly
correlated, the Identity subscale of the CBS may be more in line
self-perceptions of creative identity and thus are similarly unasso-
ciated with depressive symptoms. Related to this, the correlation
between Identity and SCAB total score may be at least partially
explained by scale items that this population is less likely to
endorse given that previous research has suggested that this pop-
ulation may or may not see themselves as creative (Karwowski,
2016).
Furthermore, the SCAB may act as a proxy of creativity as a
personality trait, and Identity may or may not measure self-esteem
and creative self-efficacy. Whereas the CBS Recognition subscale
more closely measures recognition from others that occurs as a
result of having a skill or expertise that is visible to others.
Consequently, this recognition may become a specific source of
positive self-appraisals that may provide a buffer against develop-
ing depression. In addition, Recognition may be related to receiv-
ing social support as well as having a sense of generativity through
“leaving a mark” on the world that is seen and valued by others.
Thus, although perceiving one’s self as a creative person has been
linked to greater well-being (Kelly, 2004), it may be that self-
perceived creativity might not negatively relate to depressive
symptoms in middle-aged and older adults unless that creativity is
being actively utilized in the form of creative hobby participation.
This suggests that for middle-aged and older adults, creative ben-
efits may stem from doing rather than being.
Moreover, there is an interesting conflict in the literature be-
tween creativity in professional artists and creative hobby partic-
ipation in how they relate to depressive symptoms. This conflict
creates a sort of creative personality paradox, wherein creative
hobby participation may be most beneficial to individuals who do
not view themselves as highly creative individuals. We suggest
that people who strongly identify themselves as substantially more
creative than the general population (e.g., professional artists) may
hold high and even unrealistic expectations of themselves. This, in
turn, may make them more prone to developing depression and
other affective disorders. Meanwhile, those who do not perceive
themselves as especially creative, as is the case of many older
adults (Karwowski, 2016), may be less likely to hold unreasonably
high expectations and thus are less susceptible to disappointment
and depression. Instead, these individuals may view creative ac-
tivities more as a form of self-expression and thus may reap the
full benefits of creative activities as a hobby or leisure activity
rather than as a consistent source of perceived failures.
Meanwhile, our exploratory analysis of whether age moderates
the relationship between the CBS subscales and depressive symp-
toms did not find a significant moderation effect of age. These
findings somewhat contrast with the finding that middle-aged
adults receive more calming and relaxation benefits than do older
adults (Adams-Price et al., 2018). However, our findings may be
partially explained by how we measured depressive symptoms. A
study of 20,990 Japanese participants ages 12– 89 years old found
unique trends in CES-D total scores by age, depending on how
items were scored (Tomitaka et al., 2016). When using the stan-
dard Likert scale method of calculating the CES-D total score,
wherein all item scores were summed, they found a U-shaped
pattern such that CES-D total scores were high at ages 12–29,
remained low at ages 30 –59, and then rose again from ages 60 to
89. Whereas when they used a binary method of scoring, wherein
participants either endorsed (0) or did not endorse (1) each item,
they found a downward trajectory for CES-D total score with older
age. Given that we used the standard Likert scale method of
scoring the CES-D, the lack of a moderation effect of age on the
relationship may be due to there being a nonlinear age effect.
There are some limitations to this study that may also have
contributed to our findings. First, as previously noted, due to this
sample being derived by reaching out to the administrators of
approximately 100 online groups dedicated to specific creative
hobbies, there may be problems related to sampling bias. For
example, these individuals may have sought out online groups
because they view their creative hobby as being important in ways
that more casual creative hobbyists may not. In addition, as mem-
bers of online groups, these participants may have more of a sense
of community and social support than do individuals who partic-
ipate in their creative hobby outside of online or in vivo groups.
This is especially important given that the only scale of the CBS
significantly associated with fewer depressive symptoms was Rec-
ognition. Similarly, because this study was conducted entirely
through the use of self-report measures, we need to consider how
members of online groups may unconsciously overreport the ben-
efits they are receiving from participating in their creative hobby.
That is, this sample may report more benefits than a more objective
measure might have found. Last, because all of our hypotheses
were made a priori and our analyses were either to simply provide
more information regarding how variables related in this sample,
as in our correlation analysis, or involved planned comparisons
using variables that have never before been included in the same
model, as in our hierarchical regression, we decided to forgo
correcting for multiple comparisons. As such, there is a risk that
some of our findings may be spurious. Additional hypothesis-
driven research will be needed to better understand the relation-
ships between these variables. Despite these limitations, this study
is the first to examine how age, self-perceived creativity, and
creative hobby participation uniquely relate to depression in
middle-age and older adults.
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6ISRAEL, ADAMS-PRICE, BOLSTAD, AND NADORFF

The benefits received from creative hobby participation may be
analogous to those received from serious leisure as described by
Stebbins (2015). This begs the question of whether different types
of serious leisure are more predictive of healthy aging outcomes
than others. Future research may want to explore the different
benefits gained through different forms of serious leisure activities.
For example, a study could investigate whether the benefits gained
from creative hobby participation are different from those gained
through a more physically active hobby. Additional studies may
want to explore whether the relationship observed in this study is
predominantly the result of individuals being recognized for their
creative skill and expertise, as opposed to social support alone.
Furthermore, other studies may want to examine social support
received from creative hobby participation with a distinction made
between social support received from other creators versus non-
creators. One way in which this might be accomplished is through
comparing the creative careers of people who learn their hobby in
a group compared to those who learn their hobby alone. Better
understanding of what aspects of creative hobby participation are
related to having fewer symptoms of depression or other forms of
well-being and life satisfaction may help inform middle-aged and
older adults on how to maximize the benefits of their creative
hobby.
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Received January 14, 2020
Revision received September 25, 2020
Accepted October 8, 2020 䡲
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