Is spatial exposure to heritage associated with visits to heritage and to mental health? A cross-sectional study using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS)

Objectives: Existing research highlights the beneficial nature of heritage engagement for mental health, but engagement varies geographically and socially, and few studies explore spatial exposure (i.e., geographic availability) to heritage and heritage visits. Our research questions were 'does spatial exposure to heritage vary by area income deprivation?', 'is spatial exposure to heritage linked to visiting heritage?', and 'is spatial exposure to heritage linked to mental health?'. Additionally, we explored whether local heritage is associated with mental health regardless of the presence of green space.
Design: Data collected January 2014-June 2015 via the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) wave 5. Our study is cross-sectional.
Setting: UKHLS data was either collected via face-to-face interview or on-line questionnaire.
Participants: 30,431 adults (16 years+) (13,676 males, 16,755 females). Participants geocoded to Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) ‘neighbourhood’ and ‘English Index of Multiple Deprivation’ (EIMD) 2015 Income score.
Main exposures/outcome measures: LSOA-level heritage exposure and green space exposure (i.e., population and area densities); heritage site visit in past year (outcome, binary: no, yes); mental distress (outcome, General Health Questionnaire-12, binary: less distressed 0-3, more distressed 4+).
Results: Heritage varied by deprivation, the most deprived areas (Income Quintile (Q)1:1.8) had fewer sites per 1000 population than the least deprived (Q5:11.1) (p