• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.31 no.12
• /
• pp.1689-1699
• /
• 2007

The purpose of the research was to explore clothing characteristics that tween girls(ages 9-14) consider important when deciding what to wear, as well as what the tween girls' mothers believe that their daughters value. The purposive sample consisted of 41 mother-daughter pairs recruited by $[TC]^2$ (Textile/Clothing Technology Corporation). Subjects were divided into younger(9-11) and older(12-14) normal- and plus-size groups based on Body Mass Index(BMI). There were significant differences between mothers and daughters in rating the importance of seven decision criteria concerning what to wear. The entire tween girls reported that clothes that fit well as the most important criteria in deciding what to wear. Clothes that were comfortable was the only criterion significantly related to the tween girls' body dissatisfaction scores. Mothers rated clothes that are the newest fashion and that friends would be wearing as being significantly more important than their daughters reported. There was a significant negative correlation between tween girls' body dissatisfaction scores and choosing clothes that are comfortable. Normal-size tweeen girls and their mothers differed significantly only when considering the newest fashion and what friends would be wearing. Plus-size tween girls and their mothers differed significantly for four criteria: fit, comfort, best looking, and what friends would be wearing. Both younger and older groups differed with mothers concerning what friends would be wearihng. Additionally, younger girls placed significantly more emphasis than their mothers fit. Older girls did not consider the newest fashion an important a decision criterion, but their mothers believed that they did.