Adolescent Influence in Family Decision Making: A Replication with Extension

In this article, we replicate and extend several elements of E. Foxman, P. Tansuhaj, and K. Ekstrom's 1989 study of adolescent influence, while providing an integrative model of teenager influence and a new scale of perceived relative influence. Further, we examine the effect of parental employment status on teens' influence, as well as gender-based differences in perceptions. Motivational aspects, including product importance and usage, provided the strongest and most consistent explanations of teenagers' perceived relative influence across stages and purchase situations. In addition, parental employment status positively influenced teens' perceived influence of durable family purchases. Mothers and daughters generally did not differ in their ratings of the daughters' perceived influence in the durable purchase decision-making process, while fathers' and sons' ratings did differ.