Having friends or being part of a friendship or peer group is a significant social achievement for adolescents and an indicator of social competence (Berndt, 1990). Whilst it has been acknowledged that child peer influence varies with age, gender and product situations, previous findings do not consider adolescent peer influence in relation to the family structure and type. This paper considers how peer groups or "communities" influence consumption of music during early adolescence and how this consumption is moderated by family type (intact, blended or single)

Nuttall, Peter

Tinson, Julie

English

Stirling Online Research Repository

Investigating “Community” Or Peer Group Influence Among Early AdolescentsPeter J Nuttall, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Bristol Business School1Dr Julie Tinson, Lecturer in Marketing, University of StirlingAbstractHaving friends or being part of a friendship or peer group is a significant socialachievement for adolescents and an indicator of social competence (Berndt, 1990).Whilst it has been acknowledged that child peer influence varies with age, gender andproduct situations, previous findings do not consider adolescent peer influence inrelation to the family structure and type. This paper considers how peer groups or“communities” influence consumption of music during early adolescence and howthis consumption is moderated by family type (intact, blended or single).Key Words: Music, Peers, Family Type, Communities,IntroductionAdolescence includes developing independence, a sexual identity, recognition of“self” and a place in society (Carter, Bennetts and Carter, 2003). However, thissocialisation of the adolescent does not happen in isolation, with one of the mostpowerful and persuasive forces effecting change in the adolescent being the peergroup (Harris, 1998). This study considers the role of peer group influence in relationto music consumption among adolescents. By developing an understanding ofadolescent peer pressure in various situations social policy makers and those withtraditional related marketing interests may be able to position their communicationmessages more effectively.Peer InfluencePeer influence and the way in which this differs by age have been explored byBachmann et al (1993). These authors posit that as children grow older, they begin torecognise that peer influence is important in some product situations (publiclyconsumed items) but not in others (privately consumed items). Children aged 9-11have well developed impression skills with children 12 and over probably the ultimatepurveyors and receivers of referent group influence and are clearly aware of thetendency for impressions to be formed on the basis of consumption preferences andchoices. However, apart from these preliminary quantitative indications, little researchevidence exists on how peer groups influence children of different ages or if thisdiffers by family structure and type.Family Type InfluenceNot all adolescents live with both parents. It is widely recognised that the types offamilies and households in the West are increasingly disparate, reflecting changes inrelationship development and closure (for UK see Social Trends, 2003). There hasbeen a well-documented decline in the “traditional” or “intact” family household                                                 1 University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS16 1QYTelephone: 44 (0) 117 328 3762 E-mail: Peter.Nuttall@uwe.ac.ukANZMAC 2005 Conference: Consumer Behaviour 236(Haskey, 1998)2 and consequently, stepfamilies (or blended families as described byBrown & Mann, 1990) formed as a result of individuals re-marrying or co-habitingwith new partners are more prevalent than single parent households. 8% of the totalnumbers of families in the UK are now “blended”. There is a growing necessity toconsider differences between family constitution (intacts, stepfamilies and singleparent families) Dekovic & Meeus (1997).Family structure and type then has been identified as a useful concept to explore. Ifreference group influence varies by the product context and situation and as childrenbecome more socially adept perhaps at a younger age, it is possible that referencegroup influence could vary by family type and structure. As such, exploring howpeers may influence music consumption and under what conditions and specificallyconsidering this relative to family type and structure will add to the body of literaturein this area.CommunitiesEssentially peer and friendship groups can be conceptualised as communities. That iswithin each peer or friendship group boundaries are created whether those boundariesare spontaneous or intentional and that by being part of a friendship or peer groupthere are connotations associated with either membership or belonging. As “sharedpractice by its very nature creates boundaries” (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002)being a member of a group is less of an outcome and more a part of everydayexistence. However as membership or belonging to a group often entails the use ofdifferent vocabularies, styles and sets of experiences, it could be that, particularly foradolescents the importance of social acceptance from other group members (Berndt,1990) may also provide a sense of achievement when being accepted by such a“community of practice”.Central to this study is the learning process and the shared knowledge that resultsfrom community formation. The privileged knowledge accrued by adolescentsthrough peer group association is implicated in the acquisition of identity. As peergroup (community) members, adolescents will not just learn about and, as suggestedby Lave (1988), ‘privilege abstract knowledge’ (for example abstract informationabout artists and coded symbols or gestures), but also learn ‘to be’, and acquire theability to act in a way that is socially acceptable to their community (Brown &Duguid, 2001). An adolescent’s world is made up of the communities or peer groupsthat they belong to or associate with.  These social worlds not only allow for a bindingtogether of small communities within the individual’s immediate environment (in thiscase for example, at school) but also permits extensive flows of knowledge acrosscommunities and in doing so allows individuals to feel part of a national or globalcommunity (Knorr-Cetina, 1999).Intentional boundaries can also be created with potential for negative connotations.Boundaries can limit individuals within the group as it may impinge on the othercommunities or friendship groups that they can belong to outside their primaryorganisation or group. However, given that music, as an interpersonal statement, isleast expensive in terms of time and resource commitment it may be that musicaffords the fluidity and flexibility to move more readily within and between groups.                                                 2 Lone-parent households with dependent children doubled from 3% to 6% (from 1971-1991) (SocialTrends, 2003) with the latter figure remaining constant for 2002ANZMAC 2005 Conference: Consumer Behaviour 237Research Questions• Can we facilitate a greater understanding of the role of peer (community)influence during early adolescence in relation to music consumption?• Would an exploration of the intentional or spontaneous boundaries of peercommunities contribute to an understanding of peer influence?• Is it possible to generate insight into the relevance of the family context interms of its effect on peer influence?ANZMAC 2005 Conference: Consumer Behaviour 238MethodThe potentially sensitive and complex role of music with regard to interpersonalrelationships coupled with the research challenges specific to the population ofinterest (teenagers) suggested a qualitative research approach. Music as a form of self-expression was chosen by the researchers to explore the characteristics of peer groupassociation and peer affect.As the focus of this research is to be how peers may influence music consumption andunder what conditions, attention needs to be given in defining these categories and assuch the participants.  The participants were children from the same class in schooland had known each other typically since they had started school (between six andseven years).    The research method was threefold: peer focus groups, observation and individualdiary accounts. Six focus groups were conducted with 10-12 year olds. Children wereallowed to choose their own groups although the groups were restricted to male onlyand female only to facilitate group dynamics and minimise distractions.  Thirty-sixchildren in total made collages and took part in discussions relating to their work. Thepeer focus groups were dual moderated to allow the researchers to facilitatediscussion whilst the collages were being completed. Dual moderation provided theresearchers the opportunity to observe the behaviour within the group and this assistedwith the interpretation of the transcripts. In addition, whilst creating the collages, theparticipants were gently probed about their friendship groups (for example, who theyspent time with at school, outside of school, length of friendships).Family types andcomposition were also noted.A mixed methods approach was used to triangulate the data (to see if the phenomenonwas coherent using both focus groups (public) and diaries (private). Twenty-sixdiaries were kept for a week by the 10-12 year olds and returned to the researchers.The adolescents were asked to write in their diaries everytime they listened to music,what the music was, who else was with them and how they felt at the time. Thediaries allowed the adolescents to provide a more personal account of their musicchoice and tastes. The other ten children either did not complete diaries at all or thediaries were incomplete. This could have been because they were not interested in thetask or because their interest in the task faded as the week progressed. There did notappear to be a pattern in relation to the diaries being returned (for example, both boysand girls completed diaries).The focus groups were recorded and transcribed with the data analysis beingfacilitated by the use of Nvivo. Themes were identified by the researchers from theliterature. These included spontaneous or intentional group boundaries, the learningprocess, priviledged knowledge and the sharing or information and music as afacilitator of group association. However, an emergent approach was adopted thatallowed for a more exploratory and less positivistic design.The following section summarises the key findings of this fieldwork. Initially theapparent characteristics of early adolescence in relation to music consumption areexplored followed by a discussion on the peer group “norms” that allow inclusion orpeer group belonging (practices within the communities). These include language,ANZMAC 2005 Conference: Consumer Behaviour 239dress and expert knowledge. Finally family type in relation to music consumption isexplored.FindingsPeer group influence appears to be intense at this stage and the data illustrates that itappeared to be more difficult for adolescents in a group or community to “commit” towhat music they liked as opposed to what they disliked. As Hogg & Banister (2001)indicate however, the negative aspects of consumption choices carry significantmeaning in creating personal, social and cultural identities. This also emphasises thesocial significance of music. Indeed sharing music is very personal for this age groupand knowledge of other peoples’ music taste is considered intimate. Peer groupinfluence was evident for both boys and girls, although girls appeared to be moreconcerned about having the same music tastes as their peers than the boys.Peer group “norms” or “community practices” manifest themselves in a number ofways during the focus groups and included language used to describe music,association and disassociation with particular groups or artists, dress and havingexpert knowledge.LanguageIt was evident that language used to describe music, and in some cases detrimentallanguage, was used as a “code” to include or exclude members. For example, asidefrom excluding the researchers, language or particular codes were exchangedregularly by members of the same male friendship group. The word “gay” was usedgenerally as a disparaging remark as opposed to the way in which it is contemporarilyarticulated. Additionally the force by which language was used both in volume andgesticulation further emphasised group membership.Music Preference (consumption) and DisassociationCharacteristics that peer groups found both attractive and unacceptable wereportrayed through their preferences and music consumption. For example when artistswere described as “cool”, “funky” or “genuine” they were considered to be affiliatedto the peer group. Conversely, where artists were perceived to be arrogant orconceited, they were rejected by the group as being odious. Where only one groupmember liked an artist, they were observed as being ostracised from the group.DressPractices within the “community” were reinforced and confirmed through particularitems of clothing that were closely associated with artists or music adopted by peergroups. This clothing could be branded with the artist’s name or simply clothing andother worn items that were perceived to be iconic of a particular type of music. Theway clothing was worn also appeared relevant to peer group approval.Expert knowledgeHaving expertise or “privileged” knowledge (Lave, 1988) about artists or bands wasalso noted as a shared practice. Knowledge regarding music genre or sharingknowledge within friendship groups was evident with “mixed” CDs being made andgiven from one friend to another. Lack of access to technology in this instance wasnot used to exclude group members. In some cases there was active educating ofmembers of the peer group who were less knowledgeable about what was acceptableANZMAC 2005 Conference: Consumer Behaviour 240within the group.  There appeared to be a disparity between this finding and that ofHolbrook (1999) as he suggests that “experts” on music taste and legitimacy are lesslikely to be given credence. We found the opposite to be the case.Further to this, in order to retain status regarding expert knowledge and consumptionof music, there was a requirement from the peer group to their members to illustratetheir commitment to the music deemed acceptable by the group.Family TypeThe participants in the focus groups and those completing and returning the diariesincluded adolescents from intact, blended and single parent families. The diariesindicated that there was sharing of music between adolescents and their parents –perhaps suggesting a more private consumption or situational consumption of sharedmusic taste.Yet consuming music within a family setting that was different to the music listenedto when with peers was more apparent for adolescents raised in a blended family type.It may be that these children were less confrontational and avoided conflict or thatthey consumed different music in a public forum because they had lower self-esteemand perhaps there was a greater necessity for these participants to adopt or copy theviews of other peers to maintain their position in their social group. This was moreapparent with the observation of girls in the sample. Harper and Ryder (1986) suggestadolescents of divorce experience problems with peers and this may be a way inwhich adolescents raised in blended families deal with potential conflict. Both maleand female adolescents raised in blended families also prefer to commit to one bandor artist acceptable to their peer group. That is, there appeared to be a greater need tocomply with group norms than merely to seek information (Bachmann et al, 1993).This was apparent in all the groups and the individual diaries. That is, adolescentsraised in blended and single parent families focus on a single band or artist rather thanenjoy an eclectic mix of music preferred by the adolescents raised in intact families.Schwartz and Fouts (2003) equally found this to be the case. Indeed, concert tickets,T-shirts and other forms of clothing to demonstrate commitment were more markedwith adolescents raised in blended and single parent households.Implications for MarketingThis research illustrates that there are a wide number of practices within adolescent“communities of practice”, specifically in relation to music. Whilst some of thepractices are explicit (i.e. language), a number are more tacit (i.e. expert knowledge).Adolescents raised in single parent or blended families appeared more likely todemonstrate commitment to one band or artist that is approved by the group theybelong to and were more likely to identify with peers through music consumption. Aschildren with low self-esteem are likely to be more susceptible to peer-group purchaseinfluence (Achenreiner, 1997), it would appear from this exploratory research thatadolescents raised in blended households may be more likely to conform to peerinfluence and encouragement regarding consumption and perhaps more likelyconform to peer norms as opposed to merely seeking information from groupmembers. Perhaps what could have been considered was the role the parents thoughtthey played in both parent-peer inter-relationship, what they felt the peer influenceswere and the strength or degree of this affect. A greater understanding of self-esteem(perhaps utilising existing scales) may also have added weight to the data.ANZMAC 2005 Conference: Consumer Behaviour 241ReferencesAchenreiner G. 1997 Materialistic values and susceptibility to influence in children,Advances in Consumer Research, 24/1, 82-88.Bachmann G.R., Roedder John, D. & Rao A. 1993 Children’s susceptibility to peergroup purchase influence: An exploratory investigation, Advances in ConsumerResearch, 20/1, 463-468.Berndt T.J. 1990 Distinctive features and effects of early adolescent friendships,Advances in Adolescent Development, Vol.2: From childhood to adolescenceBrown J.S. & Duguid P. 2001 Knowledge and Organization: A Social Perspective,Organization Science, 12/3,198-213Carter D., Bennetts C. & Carter S. 2003 We’re not sheep: illuminating the nature ofthe adolescent peer group in effecting lifestyle choice, British Journal of Sociology ofEducation, 24/2, 225-239.Dekovic M. & Meeus W. 1997 Peer relations in adolescence: effects of parenting andadolescents’ self-concept, Journal of Adolescence, 20, 163-176.Harper J. F. & Ryder J. 1986 Parental bonding, self-esteem and peer acceptance infather absent male adolescents, Australian Journal of Sex, Marriage and Family, 7/1,17-26.Harris, J. R. 1998 The nuture assumption: Why children turn out the way they do,London: BloomsburyHaskey J. 1998 The fragmenting family: does it matter? Institute of Economic Affairs,London, Health & Welfare UnitHogg M.K. and Banister E. 2001 Dislikes, Distastes and the Undesired Self:Conceptualising and Exploring the Role of the Undesired End State in ConsumerExperience, Journal of Marketing Management, 17, pp73-104Holbrook M.B. 1999 Popular Appeal versus Expert Judgments of Motion Pictures,Journal of Consumer Research, 26, pp144-155Knorr-Cetina, Karin 1999, Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make Knowledge,Cambridge, MA: Harvard University PressLave, J. 1988, Cognition in Practice: Mind, Mathematics, and Culture in EverydayLife, New York: Cambridge University PressSchwartz, K.D. & Fouts, G.T. 2003 Music Preferences, Personality Style, andDevelopmental Issues of Adolescents, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 32/3, 205-213.UK Office of National Statistics 2003, Social Trends 33, London: NSO.Wenger E., McDermott R. & Snyder W.M. 2002, Cultivating Communities ofPractice, Boston, Harvard Business School PressANZMAC 2005 Conference: Consumer Behaviour 242

Investigating Community or Peer Group Influence among Early Adolescents

Stirling Online Research Repository (RIOXX)

http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/12009/1/Tinson_2005_Investigating_Community.pdf

Investigating Community or Peer Group Influence among Early Adolescents

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Stirling Online Research Repository

Stirling Online Research Repository (RIOXX)