Abstract
Adolescent conspicuous consumption attitudes are perversely rooted in human relationships and interfere with personal growth
and engagement in adult roles. Negative associations between parental caring and conspicuous consumption could be evidence
of a compensatory motive to seek for the passing admiration of others when parent–child relationships fail to fulfill basic
needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Very little support, however, was found for Veblen’s original hypothesis that
conspicuous consumption attitudes are driven by perceived social class distinctions. Yet, immersion in the consumer culture
promoted by the media predicted higher levels of conspicuous consumption attitudes which were also more prominent among older
adolescents. This small-scale study of 257, predominantly middle-class adolescents, calls attention to the need for more family
socialization studies of adolescent money attitudes.
and engagement in adult roles. Negative associations between parental caring and conspicuous consumption could be evidence
of a compensatory motive to seek for the passing admiration of others when parent–child relationships fail to fulfill basic
needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Very little support, however, was found for Veblen’s original hypothesis that
conspicuous consumption attitudes are driven by perceived social class distinctions. Yet, immersion in the consumer culture
promoted by the media predicted higher levels of conspicuous consumption attitudes which were also more prominent among older
adolescents. This small-scale study of 257, predominantly middle-class adolescents, calls attention to the need for more family
socialization studies of adolescent money attitudes.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original Paper
- Pages 1-11
- DOI 10.1007/s10834-012-9282-7
- Authors
- Clinton G. Gudmunson, Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University, 1323 Palmer Building, Ames, IA 50011, USA
- Ivan F. Beutler, School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA
- Journal Journal of Family and Economic Issues
- Online ISSN 1573-3475
- Print ISSN 1058-0476