Advertising, Parent-Child Conflict and

Age

Younger children make more advertising-induced purchase requests and come into conflict with their parents about advertised products more often than do older children. There are several explanations for this moderating effect of age. Research has shown that younger children are more vulnerable to persuasive information, because they have less experience and domain-specific knowledge that they can use while processing commercials. They are, therefore, less able to come up with critical thoughts and counterarguments while watching commercials, which enhances the likelihood that they will ask for advertised products.

A second reason for a stronger effect of advertising on parent-child conflict among younger children is that younger children more often have difficulty delaying gratifications than do older children. If young children see something as attractive, they focus all their attention on the enticing aspects of this stimulus and find it very difficult to resist, which may increase the chance of parent-child conflict.

Finally, the decrease in advertising-induced parent-child conflict with age may be a result of children's growing ability to apply sophisticated persuasion techniques. Research has shown that young children quite often ask, whine, and show anger in order to persuade their parents. Older children, in contrast, tend to use more sophisticated persuasion techniques, such as negotiation, flattery, and white lies. Such sophisticated persuasion strategies generally lead to less parent-child conflict than the persuasion strategies of younger children do.

Gender

The effect of advertising on parent-child conflict is often stronger for boys than for girls. Boys are generally more persistent in their requests for advertised products than girls are. They more often rely on forceful or demanding strategies when trying to persuade their parents, whereas girls are more likely to rely on tact and polite suggestions. The subtle persuasion strategies used by girls may decrease the chance of parent-child conflict.

Socioeconomic Status

The chance of advertising-induced parent-child conflict is generally higher in families with low socioeconomic status (SES) than in higher-status families. There is evidence that children from low-SES families make more advertising-induced purchase requests than high-SES children do. One explanation for this difference is that low-SES children tend to watch more television, which may stimulate their advertising-induced purchase requests behavior. Another explanation is that parents of low-SES families discuss advertising effects with their children less often than high-SES parents do, which may put low-SES children at a disadvantage in protecting themselves against advertising

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