Consumer socialization in childhood and adolescence: Impact of psychological development and family structure

摘要

Consumer socialization theory suggests that as children grow up and become consumers, their processing of cognitive and social stimuli depends on their age and family structure. Parents, peers, and mass media function as socialization agents and constitute the social environment in which children learn to become consumers. This research accordingly predicts several differences in socialization practices according to children's age-related stages of development and socio-cultural contexts (i.e., family structures) and tests these hypotheses in an emerging market context. Findings obtained from Indian children confirm that consumer socialization processes vary with children's ages (early childhood versus adolescence) and family structures (nuclear vs. stem vs. extended). These findings add further insights and nuance to extant considerations of consumer socialization in developed markets.