“You can't buy friends, but … ” children's perception of consumption and friendship

Abstract

Purpose – This article aims to explore, and compare, the perceived association between economic resources and peer relationships among two age groups of Swedish tweens. Design/methodology/approach – The data consist of 101 drawings by Swedish tweens, aged nine, and aged 12. The children were asked if and how children can attract friends through the use of money. Findings – Most children did perceive economic resources as a means to attract friends. However, both the kind of items that were found in the drawings, and the children's perceptions of how to use the items, were relatively different between children aged nine and children aged 12. Research limitations/implications – Because of the small sample size, it is not possible to generalize results obtained in the current study to a population of children in general. Practical implications – If children believe that they can use material goods to become more popular and accepted, they may be highly vulnerable to the internalisation of materialistic values. In order to more deeply understand the meaning of consumption in children's peer relationships, there is a need to gain more knowledge of the extent to which children themselves perceive money as a means of attracting friends. Originality/value – Previous research indicates that material possessions are important for children in order to gain popularity among peers. However, few studies have tried to investigate if and how children perceive economic resources as a means to attract friends, in different age groups.