Role of Family Communications Including Parenting Styles on Consumer Socialization of Children: A Retrospective Look at Forty Years of Research
34 Pages Posted: 26 Apr 2014 Last revised: 12 Jun 2014
Date Written: April 25, 2014
Abstract
Last Forty years of research on the impact of family communications including parenting style on consumer socialization of children have yielded a remarkable set of findings. The main aim of this article is to review all these findings and evaluate what we know about children’s growth as consumers in different families with varying communication patterns including parenting style. Our emphasis is on the developmental sequences illustrating the development of consumer knowledge, skills, and attitudes of children. In doing so, we present a theoretical framework for understanding consumer socialization of children belonging to families with different communication patterns and parenting style. We then examine the experimental findings illustrating interpersonal communications (parent-child interactions) between children and parents in the development of consumer behaviour in young children. Based on the evidence reviewed, implications are drawn for future theoretical and empirical development in the field of consumer socialization.
Keywords: Family communications, Parenting styles, Consumer socialization
JEL Classification: M31
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation