A meta-analysis of parental style and consumer socialization of children

Abstract

This meta-analysis attempts to offer an overall cumulative effect estimate of the parental style–consumer socialization relationship(s) across 73 studies examining child outcomes, including 173 unique consumer socialization dependent variables—ranging from understanding advertising practices to weight status to theft—among approximately 200,000 child respondents. This meta-analysis offers two contributions to the consumer socialization literature. It systematically confirms the influence that parental Restrictiveness (relative to Permissiveness) has on raising children adept at positively interacting—and avoiding negative interactions—with the marketplace and related environments. Also, this meta-analysis supports prior literature's depiction of the Authoritative parenting style as especially important to these positive interactions with the marketplace, in particular among older children and psychosocial-type outcomes. Finally, this research is the first to provide a comprehensive confirmation of differences in child thinking, believing, doing, choosing not to do, feeling, etc. as attributable to different parental styles.