Analysing the Impact of Participation in Community Activities (Festivals) on Mental Health

Social capital is vital for community activities, such as those pertaining to area management activities. Furthermore, festivals and the existence of temples and shrines are crucial for enhancing social capital in Japan. Among all of the area management activities in Japan, festivals are typically held at shrines, which allow attendees to pray for their health and well-being. In this paper, we investigate the impact of participating in festivals and traditional events on mental health. We conduct a nationwide questionnaire survey in Japan and use ordered logit techniques to analyse the impact of participation in festivals and traditional events on mental health. It is found that community activities related to festivals and traditional events normalise mental health. The dependent variable (i.e., the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6)), is negative and statistically significant, which denote that participation in community activities can stabilise mental health. Since landscape maintenance activities, such as cleaning, are not statistically significant, it would be effective to merge such activities with festivals and other community-based efforts. It is also important to consider how residents could be motivated to participate in community activities when ties with neighbours become weaker.