Mother-daughter selection of seventh grade girl's clothing store

This descriptive study was concerned with agreement or disagreement of middle class mothers and their seventh grade daughters in selection of stores for purchasing the daughters' clothing. Data were obtained from 48 matched mother-daughter pairs in Chester, Virginia, in the spring of 1970. Aspects of retail selection studied through the use of questionnaires were peer influence, choice of brand names, store services, loyalty, mass media influence, source of money, and type of garment to be purchased.

Principle findings were: (1) At least one-half of the pairs were in agreement on approximately two-thirds of the questions. Thus, it appeared that they were more, likely to concur than to disagree concerning the clothing store selection for daughters' clothing. (2) One-half of the pairs agreed they had a favorite store. Daughters' responses indicated the department store was the desired type of those having a favorite retail outlet; but a majority of them went to at least three or four stores before purchasing apparel. (3) Daughters' responses generally showed: they were unaware of their friends' preferences in brand names; if their friends had a favorite clothing store; and lack of brand name identification desires for their own clothes. (4) Strong disagreement was expressed regarding desired salesperson behavior while agreement was indicated on return policies and lay-away procedures. (5) Daughters considered store catalogues "very important" sources of information for their apparel.