Consumer socialization research revealed three sources of adolescent influences in teen apparel shopping: peers, media and parents. Teen apparel includes clothing, shoes, cosmetics and jewelry. These three influences have been studied separately, but never together. Interpersonal influences derived from 2 other studies: interpersonal influence susceptibility and consumer socialization.

Six 'Teen Interpersonal Influence' scales were developed to see what impact the three sources of influence have on teen apparel shopping. Parents get less influence when the teen grows older, money-related variables also have an effect on the spendings of teens. Gender, social class and social risk of the product 100 determine the height of influence.

In conclusion, many studies confirm that when teens grow older, they get less influenced by parents and peers. This can be explained by the fact that teens want to establish their own norms, even if these norms relate with stereotypes.

Max Vandormael

Link: http://www.springerlink.com/content/u685p50l8238n012/fulltext.pdf