The Generational Confusion? Identity Issues Caused by Clothes-sharing between Mothers and Their Teenage Daughters

Abstract

Common purchases and clothes exchange practices between a mother and her teenage daughter can display many patterns with different forms and shifting intensities. A typology based on the degree of femininity a mother assigns to her teenage daughter and to herself underlines subtle differences between these purchasing/consumption behaviors. An interpretive approach depicted two underlining mechanisms: the social comparison and the interpersonal influence. Without mastering these identity mechanisms, marketing research can make the most of them but also sometimes induce generational confusion.