CONSUMPTION COMMUNICATION AND PARENTAL CONTROL OF CHILDREN'S TELEVISION VIEWING: A MULTI-RATER APPROACH

The increasing influence and involvement of children and teenagers on various aspects of consumer behavior is well established. Past studies have examined consumer socialization primarily from the perspective of the mother (e.g., Carlson, Grossbart, and Walsh 1990; Rose, Bush, and Kahle 1998; see Palan 1998 for an exception). This study extends this research by examining the relationship between family communication and parental control over children's television viewing among multiple family members (the mother, the father, and the child). The results generally support the convergent validity of the measures across raters. The criteria for discriminant validity (Campbell and Fiske 1959) were generally met, but some complexities were found, particularly for the ratings or perceptions of the child.