A Study in The Propensity for Symbolic Consumption of Adolescents

청소년의 상징적 소비성향에 관한 연구

The objectives of this study are to examine the degree of propensity for symbolic consumption among adolescents and its factors, and to investigate the effects of demographic variables - sex, grade, father's education, mother's education, father's job, mother's job, monthly allowance, monthly household income - self-esteem, and socialization agents variables - parents, friends, mass media - on the propensity. In this study, the propensity for symbolic consumption is defined as the propensity to consume products through their affective, subjective, and symbolic value rather than through their practical and utility value. The data used in this study were collected from 509 adolescents who are in the 2nd grade of middle or high schools in Pusan. The research results can be summarized as follows: 1. The propensity for symbolic consumption were found to have significant differences according to sex, father's education, mother's education, mother's job, and monthly allowance. 2. It differs significantly according to adolescents' self-esteem. That is, the lower self-esteem adolescents have, the higher propensity for symbolic consumption they show. 3. It also differs significantly according to the degree of communication with parents, the degree of accepting friends' view, the degree of communication with friends, the degree of informative influence from friends, and the degree of taking in mass media.