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Relation of Parental Caring to Conspicuous Consumption Attitudes in Adolescents

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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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University, 1323 Palmer Building, Ames, IA, 50011, USA

    Clinton G. Gudmunson

  2. School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA

    Ivan F. Beutler

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  1. Clinton G. Gudmunson
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  2. Ivan F. Beutler
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Correspondence to Clinton G. Gudmunson.

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Gudmunson, C.G., Beutler, I.F. Relation of Parental Caring to Conspicuous Consumption Attitudes in Adolescents. J Fam Econ Iss 33, 389–399 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-012-9282-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-012-9282-7

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