Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Vol 18(5), Oct 2024, 679-698; doi:10.1037/aca0000556
There is substantial interest among psychologists in the psychological processes of engaging arts and humanities. Despite this, there is still a need for methodological tools to investigate the psychological mechanisms through which engagement in arts and humanities enhances individual well-being. Using four rounds of data collection (including one retest), we document the development and validation of the scales measuring each of the five theorized mechanisms: reflection, acquisition, immersion, socialization, and expression. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, we found a three-factor structure for reflection (life/worldview, emotional, and external), and six-factor for acquisition (vicarious experience, direct encouragement, social persuasion, experience of mastery—ability, experience of mastery—success, and positive physiological response), two-factor structure for immersion (effort and passage of time), three-factor for socialization (relationships, identity, conversation), and one-factor structure for expression. We also reported measurement invariance in mechanisms of engagements in arts vs. humanities and between males and females and over time. The measure demonstrated predictive and concurrent validity for flourishing outcomes, good test–retest reliability, and measurement equivalence across gender, between arts and humanities, and over time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)