Disparities in museum attendance among youth over two decades: an empirical analysis of who attends and how often

Abstract

In prior research, museum attendance has been shown to positively impact educational outcomes for children, teens, and adults, yet little has been documented about who is attending and how often. This paper is the first to provide comprehensive descriptive and regression analyses to explore museum attendance among youth (5 to 18 year-olds) in the U.S. using data from five nationally representative datasets spanning two decades. Furthermore, though anecdotal evidence indicates disparities across demographic groups, there has yet to be a comprehensive analysis documenting the magnitudes of these differences. Our analyses identify characteristics that are highly correlated with museum attendance generally, and art and science museums, specifically. Our findings show that attendance rates among youth typically range from 50-70%, but that there are significant differences by socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, gender, and location. These findings indicate that policies to improve access to museums for students, particularly low income youth and those in rural areas, may be beneficial for promoting wider cultural, artistic, and hands-on STEAM opportunities.