An in-depth study by a group of US art museums has demonstrated the lasting impact of art programmes aimed at teenagers.

The findings showed that people who had participated in art initiatives when in their teens demonstrated increased leadership skills, civic engagement and personal and professional growth. They also maintained an interest and engagement with arts and culture into adulthood.

The study was carried out by the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles – all of which have run intensive teen art programmes since the 1990s.

Over 95 per cent of the study’s 300-plus participants said they had visited an art gallery in the past two years, with 68 per cent reporting five visits in that time frame. More than 70 per cent of those surveyed said that the art program they had taken part in had had a strong impact on their knowledge and interest in art; 95 per cent considered the programme a very good experience or one of the most important experiences they’d ever had.

“As practitioners, we had an intuitive understanding that these programmes were benefiting teens, but we lacked rigorous research about what was happening long-term,” said Danielle Linzer, director of access and community programmes at the Whitney and research project director. “Now, with this study, we can finally show that these experiences really do change lives.”

The programmes in question typically allowed the teenagers to interact with both museum staff and artists to experience what it’s like behind-the-scenes of a gallery, and featured a range of activities, tours and visits aimed specifically at their age group.

The study was based on data collected from 315 alumni of four teen art programmes that ran between 1992 and 2011. Data was gathered through a range of surveys, focus groups, interviews with alumni and museum staff, arts-based case studies and archival research that began in 2011. The former teenage participants were aged between 18 to 36 when the study started.

Respondents also reported the programmes increased their appreciation of the role on museums in society and enabled them to interact with people from different backgrounds. Many were influenced to seek further education and careers in the arts and culture sector.

The results of the research will be released in a new full-colour publication, Room To Rise: The Lasting Impact of Intensive Teen Programs in Art, available online at whitney.org/RoomToRise and shared at national conferences. The Whitney is also hosting a presentation and panel discussion on 20 April.

The study was funded by a National Leadership Grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.