Interpersonal influence and adolescent materialism and compulsive buying

Many of our consumer values and much of our marketplace behavior can be traced to the impact of others. Adolescence is a time when susceptibility to interpersonal influence is particularly high. Consumer values and behaviors, both positive and negative, developed during adolescence may last well into adulthood. Assuming parents and peers play somewhat unique roles in regard to shaping these consumer values and behavior, the present study investigates adolescent susceptibility to parental and peer influence, and how this susceptibility impacts materialistic values and compulsive buying. Findings of the present study include: (1) parents play an important and informative role in shaping adolescent materialism and compulsive buying, (2) peers assume a significant normative function in affecting levels of materialism and compulsive buying, and (3) compared with parental informative influence, peer normative influence has a relatively stronger effect on both materialism and compulsive buying. Support was also found for an alternative explanation suggesting that levels of materialism and compulsive buying influence levels of peer influence and, to a lesser degree, levels of parental influence. Given the importance of the impact of others on consumer values and behavior, research in this area is critically important.

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