Intergenerational possession transfers and identity maintenance

Research suggests that older consumers hope to transfer their cherished possessions, bundled with their carefully edited personal history, to younger family members. Further, researchers have found that older consumers worry that their younger loved ones will not care about these cherished, transferred possessions. Using a random, national US sample, this research investigates these findings, examining the pervasiveness of some of the most common themes emanating from previous naturalistic investigations, thus broadening our understanding of intergenerational possession transfers. Findings indicate that many of the key themes in intergenerational possession transfers conducted in naturalistic investigations can be generalized to a majority of the adult population in the US. That is, in this random, national US sample, a majority of respondents report: that they hope their loved ones will care about their cherished possessions, that they plan to pass their family possessions on to subsequent generations, and that their familial possessions reflect their family identity. Findings also indicate that this was significant among all adult age groups, and that females value cherished possessions more than males. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.