Table 1 Descriptive statistics for all time-varying characteristics included in analyses as measured at baseline

Arts participation

None

18.91

Once/twice last year

3.24

Once per month

8.09

Once per week

13.57

More than once per week

56.19

Cultural attendance

None

20.86

Once/twice last year

24.82

Once per month

36.06

Once per week or more

18.25

Mental health conditions

GHQ-12 mental distress (0–36)

11.16 (5.53)

11.35 (5.64)

11.00 (5.28)

<0.001

11.53 (5.74)

10.75 (5.07)

<0.001

SF-12 mental functioning (0–100)

49.55 (9.74)

49.14 (10.08)

50.05 (9.29)

<0.001

49.29 (10.68)

50.19 (8.93)

<0.001

Demographic characteristics

Age (16–101)

47.19 (18.01)

46.93 (16.63)

49.59 (16.70)

<0.001

52.21 (16.76)

45.90 (16.16)

<0.001

 < 30

15.92

18.42

14.83

<0.001

11.34

19.77

<0.001

 31–40

17.35

19.11

16.58

15.69

18.74

 41–50

21.11

22.27

20.61

19.25

22.67

 51–60

18.44

17.76

18.73

19.48

17.56

 > 60

27.19

22.44

29.25

34.24

21.26

 Single/Never married

29.35

33.01

27.77

<0.001

25.30

32.76

<0.001

 Married/Cohabited

56.6

54.95

57.31

58.18

55.27

 Separated/Divorced/Windowed

14.05

12.03

14.92

16.52

11.97

 No children

67.96

63.24

70.00

<0.001

70.39

65.91

<0.001

 Preschool children 0–4

13.23

16.69

11.73

14.64

12.04

 Primary school children 5–11

11.81

12.44

11.53

9.13

14.06

 Middle school children 12–15

7.01

7.63

6.74

5.84

8.00

 Inactive

33.17

30.22

34.45

<0.001

41.35

26.30

<0.001

 Unemployed

4.55

5.67

4.06

5.63

3.64

 Working class

19.44

26.11

16.55

21.56

17.65

 Intermediate class

14.69

14.97

14.57

12.77

16.30

 Service class

28.15

23.03

30.38

18.69

36.11

Number of people in household (1–16)

2.84 (1.39)

2.90 (1.35)

2.66 (1.26)

<0.001

2.65 (1.29)

2.81 (1.30)

<0.001

Logged household income (0–10.5)

7.41 (0.68)

7.36 (0.66)

7.48 (0.68)

<0.001

7.30 (0.64)

7.60 (0.67)

<0.001

Health behaviors

Portions of fruits/vegetables eaten per day (0–11)

3.32 (1.57)

3.05 (1.52)

3.58 (1.57)

<0.001

3.21 (1.55)

3.60 (1.60)

<0.001

Drinking frequency in the last year (1–8)

4.68 (1.96)

4.70 (1.95)

4.42 (1.87)

<0.001

4.78 (1.92)

4.27 (1.76)

<0.001

 Current smoker

7.91

23.24

16.28

<0.001

23.16

14.37

<0.001

 Ever smoked

17.73

35.42

39.21

37.61

38.44

 Never smoked

74.36

41.34

44.51

39.22

47.19

 Yes, limited a lot

18.39

9.96

7.02

<0.001

12.27

4.24

<0.001

 Yes, limited a little

38.06

18.23

17.51

21.48

14.57

 No, not limited at all

43.55

71.81

75.47

66.25

81.19

Sporting frequency

3.49 (2.92)

3.11 (2.89)

3.57 (2.84)

<0.001

2.69 (2.83)

4.06 (2.80)

<0.001

Social support

Family support (−2.39–1.41)

0.00 (0.99)

−0.12 (1.03)

0.06 (0.94)

<0.001

−0.13 (1.08)

0.12 (0.94)

<0.001

Friend support (−2.41–1.09)

0.00 (0.99)

−0.07 (1.01)

0.01 (0.95)

<0.001

−0.04 (0.99)

0.01 (0.93)

<0.001

23,660

47,320