We examine age differences in materialism with children and adolescents 8-18 years old. In study 1, we find materialism increases from middle childhood to early adolescence and declines from early to late adolescence. Further, we find that age differences are mediated by changes in self-esteem occurring from middle childhood through adolescence. In study 2, we prime self-esteem to obtain further evidence of a causal link between self-esteem and materialism. As expected, we find that inducing high self-esteem decreases expressions of materialism. Inducing high self-esteem reduces materialism among adolescents so dramatically that age differences in materialism disappear.Contemporary American tweens and teens have emerged as the most brand-oriented, consumer-involved, and materialistic generation in history. And they top the list globally. . . . More children here than anywhere else believe that their clothes and brands describe who they are and define their social status. (Schor 2004, 13) C oncerns over the rising level of materialism in children and adolescents are increasing among parents, educators, and social scientists. In a recent national survey, 95% of adults say that children are too focused on buying and consuming things, and almost 80% agree that limits should

Individuals use brands to create and communicate their self-concepts, thereby creating self-brand connections. Although this phenomenon is well documented among adult consumers, we know very little about the role of brands in defining, expressing, and communicating self-concepts in children and adolescents. In this article, we examine the age at which children begin to incorporate brands into their self-concepts and how these self-brand connections change in qualitative ways as children move into adolescence. In three studies with children 8-18 yr. of age, we find that self-brand connections develop in number and sophistication between middle childhood and early adolescence.R esearch demonstrates that individuals use products to create and communicate their self-concepts (Belk 1988;Kleine, Kleine, and Allen 1995;Sirgy 1982;Solomon 1983;Wallendorf and Arnould 1988). Consumer brands are ideally suited to this process given the wide availability of brands and the range of distinctive brand images they reflect (Fournier 1998;Gardner and Levy 1955;Muniz and O'Guinn 2001;Schouten and McAlexander 1995). Consumers can appropriate associations belonging to brands, such as user characteristics or personality traits, and incorporate them into their self-concepts. In doing so, consumers form connections between brands and their self-concepts, referred to as self-brand connections (Escalas and Bettman 2003).Although this phenomenon is well documented in the literature, virtually all of the research to date has focused on adult consumers. We know very little about the role of brands in defining, expressing, and communicating self-concepts in children. A number of questions remain unanswered, such as, When do children begin to make self-brand connections? What developmental factors precipitate the use of brands to define and express self-concepts? Are there differences in the *Lan Nguyen Chaplin is assistant professor of marketing, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, School of Business Administration, 1206 S. Sixth St., 140B Wohlers Hall, Champaign, IL 61820 (nguyenl@cba.uiuc .edu). Deborah Roedder John is Curtis L. Carlson Chair and professor of marketing, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, 321 Nineteenth Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (djohn@csom.umn .edu). Correspondence: Lan Nguyen Chaplin. The authors acknowledge the helpful suggestions of the editor, associate editor, and reviewers. The authors thank the staff and students of Camp Keepumbuzzi and the Marcy Open School for their participation. In addition, the authors thank our children, nieces, nephews, and neighbors for serving as pretest participants for all three studies. types of self-brand connections made by younger versus older children?In this article, we explore these questions by examining age differences in self-brand connections. Our interest lies in understanding at what age children begin to incorporate brands into their self-concepts and how these self-brand connections change in qualitative ways as children move into adole...

Research in marketing often begins with two assumptions: that consumers are able to choose among desirable products, and that they have sufficient resources to buy them. However, many consumer decision journeys are constrained by a scarcity of products and/or a scarcity of resources. We review research in marketing, psychology, economics and sociology to construct an integrative framework outlining how these different types of scarcity individually and jointly influence consumers at various stages of their decision journeys. We outline avenues for future research and discuss implications for developing consumer-based marketing strategies.

We argue that consumers with high self-brand connections (SBC) respond to negative brand information as they do to personal failure -they experience a threat to their positive self-view. After viewing negative brand information, high (vs. low) SBC consumers reported lower state selfesteem. Consumers with high SBC also maintained favorable brand evaluations despite negative brand information. However, when they completed an unrelated self-affirmation task, they lowered their brand evaluations the same as low SBC consumers. This finding suggests that high SBC consumers' reluctance to lower brand evaluation might be driven by a motivation to protect the self rather than the brand.

What causes adolescents to be materialistic? Prior research shows parents and peers are an important influence. Researchers have viewed parents and peers as socialization agents that transmit consumption attitudes, goals, and motives to adolescents. We take a different approach, viewing parents and peers as important sources of emotional support and psychological well-being, which increase self-esteem in adolescents. Supportive parents and peers boost adolescents' self-esteem, which decreases their need to turn to material goods to develop positive selfperceptions. In a study with 12-18 year-olds, we find support for our view that self-esteem mediates the relationship between parent/peer influence and adolescent materialism.