Psychological Well-Being of Australian Actors and Performing Artists Life Satisfaction and Negative Affect

BACKGROUND: Anecdotal evidence and media reports suggest that actors and other performing artists experi-ence high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. How-ever, no empirical study has examined the psychological well-being of this professional group. OBJECTIVE: The Australian Actors' Wellbeing Study (AWS) was con-ducted to examine the general wellbeing of Australian actors and performing artists. The present paper, report-ing on data from the AWS, focuses on two aspects of respondents' psychological well-being: life satisfaction and the experience of negative affect. METHODS: An online survey including several questionnaires was dis-tributed to the Equity Foundation membership repre-senting Australian actors. We report results from the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) and examine their associa -tions with respondents' sociodemographic and occupa-tional background, including their relationship status and any relationship stress, income from performing, and time taken away from performing. RESULTS: A sample of 782 Australian actors responded to the survey, with 582 participants completing the DASS and 568 the SWLS. Participants reported lower levels of life satisfac-tion and higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress than found in the Australian general population. Being in a relationship was associated with better psychological well-being; however, work stress often impacted nega-tively on relationships. Income had little association with psychological well-being, unless the respondent felt under financial stress. Respondents who took extended periods of time away from performing reported less life satisfaction and more depression than others. CONCLU-SION: Australian actors may be at a high risk for poor psychological health. Further research is necessary to establish causality among the variables we examined and to investigate protective factors that may increase well-being in the context of the performing arts industry.