This study examines parent-child communication patterns and mothers' consumer-socialization tendencies. Results indicate mothers' concept-orientations are related to number of goals, discussing adlieTtising, cooiewing, coshopping, childrens influence, yielding, and granting children consumer independence. In contrast, socio-orientations are related to limits on children's TV exposure and refusing requests.Following charges by consumer groups about effects of marketing activities (especially TV advertising) on children, many consumer-socialization studies were conducted to learn how children acquire consumer knowledge, or to provide data to help formulate more effective corporate and public policy (Ward 1974). This research has primarily focused on children's responses to influence attempts by various consumer-socialization agents, but has given less attention to variations in mothers' socialization tendencies, i.e., orientations and behaviors with regard to children's consumer socialization (exceptions include Carlson and Grossbart 1988;Moschis 1985). To provide more insight into mothers' roles, this study focuses on mothers as socialization agents. As a part of a larger investigation (Carlson 1985; cf. Carlson and Grossbart 1988), this research examines relationships between mother-child communication patterns and mothers' goals for children's consumer socialization, efforts to mediate effects of media exposure, interaction with children, and responses to requests.This research makes two contributions. First, communication-pattern research in consumer behavior has relied on responses from children [typically adolescents; in two studies Foxman, Tansuhaj andEkstrom (1989) did ask adolescents about parents' communication patterns and parents about children's consumer roles in the family]. This study broadens communication-pattern research by investigating the maternal view of parent-child communications with younger children (grades K-6). Second, it examines a number of specific-consumer socialization tendencies which have not been studied in a consumer communication-pattern context, and demonstrates their connections to mothers' general consumer-communication behavior.
BackgroundInvestigators have used general socialization research to develop theoretical frameworks that identify two major classes of influence in the consumer-socialization process: environmental and cognitive factors (Moschis and Moore 1979;Roedder, Roedder, and Whitney, Jr. 1986;Ward, Wackman, and Wartella 1977b). Environmental factors include socialization agents such as family members, peers, and mass media. Cognitive factors, generally considered age-related abilities, are often interpreted from Piaget's perspective on children's relative stages of development. ©]oumal of AdlieTtising
