Creative Work May Lead to Better Health

Wallace Stevens was not only a poet, he was also the vice-president of a large insurance company. When asked by an associate, "Why write poetry, there's no money in it?" Stevens quipped, "Sure, there's no money in poetry, but there's no poetry in money either."

Creativity seems, for some, to confer a mysterious feeling of wholeness that directed work is insufficient to foster. This ineffable something has recently been shown to have a measurable impact on physical health. An impact equivalent to making 15 times greater household income.

EXERPT from ASA NEWS
In a recent study appearing in The Journal of Health and Social Behavior, a peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Sociological Association, researchers J. Mirowsky and C. E. Ross "Employees who have more control over their daily activities and can do challenging work they enjoy are likely to be in better health."

"The most important finding is that creative activity helps people stay healthy," lead author John Mirowsky, a sociology professor with the at UT Austin. "Creative activity is nonroutine, enjoyable, and provides opportunity for learning and for solving problems. People who do that kind of work, whether paid or not, feel healthier and have fewer physical problems."

And although people who work give up some independence, the study found that being employed does lead to better health. One thing that surprised us was the the daily activities of employed persons are more creative than those of non-employed persons of the same sex, age, and level of education," Mirowsky said.

The study, which appears in the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, comprised 2,592 adults who responded to a 1995 national telephone survey and were followed up in 1998. The survey addressed general health and physical functioning, as well as how people spent thier time on a daily basis and whether their work, even if unpaid, gave them a chance to learn new things or do things they enjoy.

The health advantage of being somewhat above average in creative work [in the 60th percentile] versus being somewhat below average [in the 40th percentile] is equal to being 6.7 years younger," Mirowsky said. It is also equal to having two more years of education or 15 times greater household income, he added.

Although the authors didn't examine specific job positions that may confer this health advantage, professions considered not to involve a "creative" environment were those such as assembly lines.

Rather, jobs that are high-status, with managerial authority, or that require complex work with data generally provide more access to creative work, Mirowsky said. However, "People with a wide variety of jobs manage to find ways to make them creative. People with higher levels of education tend to have more creative activities, paid or not. Something about education helps individuals to find creative things to do and get the resources to do them."