Philophical Foundation

Introduction

Teenagers have always been linked in some way to materialism, but what is it exactly what makes us relate both terms? What is it that makes them so much more vulnerable to certain products than other people, like kids or mature adults since everyone is on the receiving end of marketing in all its forms? In order to answer these questions it is necessary to define materialism and the teen stage of life, as well as which specific characteristics lead us to materialism.

There are several ways to define what materialism is, for instance the most important definitions of this particular term are the ones given by Belk, and Richins and Dawson. Belk (1984, 1985) conceptualized materialism as "the manifestation of three personality traits:

* possessiveness,

* non-generosity,

* envy".

On the other hand, Richins and Dawson (1992) said that the "conceptualization of materialism revolves around the idea that materialism is a central organizing value which leads to a number of value orientations", said value orientations refer to acquisition as a way of seeking for happiness, success defined by possessions, and acquisition/possession centrality.

As we can see, both definitions include the actions of possession, but it is interesting to see how in the second definition the author transmits that through possession people can actually be trying to accomplishing or actually be in the search of such strong feelings as success and happiness.

Now, what all this has to do with adolescence, well first of all an adolescent is defined as to be experiencing "a time of exploration and identity creation" by Roberts, Manolis, and Tanner.

By saying that being a teenager consists of creating or own identity they mean that they are in a stage in which they are looking up to others' actions, they copy the way other people develop in every possible aspect. This means that they even tend to copy, try to imitate everything they think their peers or family or someone they look up for reference, including purchasing patterns.

"The family unit is an important socialization agent and consumer behavior is thought to begin in the confines of a family" (Cohen, 1994). Since family is the social circle in which an individual spends most of his time with, and with whom we have more interaction, it is to be expected that as we grow up we pick up certain traits from our several family members.

Now the question is why does people seem to be more influenced in their purchases while going through their teen age years?

Well the answer is that, at stated earlier, a teen ager is in search of who he is, what he wants and how he wants to get things done.

Teens find who they are, they define who they are by the different bards they buy; they adopt certain personality traits and out them into brands or just put them into things and then they purchase those as to have the characteristics they gave the products or brands.

It is materialism because they give such a huge importance to the things they already posses or want to posses, they are looking to acquire something more than just a simple object, in a product they see what they will gain in buying it, not the mere necessity it may cover or the desire it may come to fulfill, but the feeling of succeeding in some way.

It is also very important to note that "peers play an important role in shaping consumer values and decision making, particularly during adolescence" (Mangleburg et al., 1997; Palan, 1998). It was already discussed how every family member of an individual may affect their purchasing habits, but lets not forget that the family is not the only social circle a person is in constant contact with.

This means that we also have to take into account the circle of friends surrounding the person as well as the leaders of opinion, who have a great impact in a teen ager's life.

It is also interesting that, as seen in Luo's research, cited by Roberts, Manolis, and Tanner (2008), it was found that "the presence of peers increased the urge of young adults to make purchases and the presence of family decreases this urge". With this we can really see how both social groups affect the individual's purchase behavior in very different ways.

It is also common to find that materialism is a way to cover up a low self esteem, Anitei (2007) declares this by showing a research published in the Journal of Consumer Research that shows the following:

* Eight to nine years old: presented a start in materialism

* Twelve to thirteen years old: presented a boost in materialism

* Sixteen to eighteen years old: materialism starts to fade in the individual.

Seeing the findings of the research, and also by the fact that it is during those ages the individual tends to be in the position of trying to define who he is and what he wants to do. It is during this specific state that they are trying form a personality for themselves.

And who do they do that?

Well, teens are influenced as we already said by family members and peers, social groups, but let's not forget that with social groups also comes materialism, because it is things we purchase what makes us who we are and how we are in the eyes of others.

But not only social groups can influence kids into materialism, according to Chaplin and John, "peer pressure, targeted marketing campaigns, and poor, lenient, or indulgent parenting have all been blamed for increasing materialism in children".

As said earlier, people, especially teens use materialism to have a better self esteem. "Children with lower self-esteem valued possessions significantly more than children with higher self-esteem" says Hareyan (2006).

Going back to Chaplin and John's research they found latter that by giving children and teen agers a sense of self worth and accomplishment materialism characteristics in their personality by reducing the importance these individuals give to certain items, like for example clothes in the case of adolescents and toys in the case of children.

Conclusion

As we can see materialism is not only to buy things just for the fun of buying them, or caring about certain things just because, but it is a way of feeling secure within our selves. Materialism is a way of finding who we are.

There is a very strong relation between adolescence and materialism, as seen in the paper there