Homepage > Thai Youth Issues > Thai teenagers more careful about money

Date: 24th September 1999, The Nation

DESPITE spending budget cuts, Thai and Asian teens are less concerned about belt-tightening but have learned to control their spending, according to a study by McCann-Erickson.

Asian teenagers have resumed their spending habits, following the good sentiment brought about by a better economy, said David McCaughan, managing director of McCann-Erickson Thailand.

He said that Asian teenagers, including young Thais, are less concerned with economic difficulties while having greater awareness about what they buy and how they entertain themselves. They feel that the economic difficulties present a serious problem to their parents and have started to affect themselves directly. Buying goods or services, Thai teenagers now tend to look for more than one type of justification for any purchase.

It is clear from the study that Thai teenagers are not pessimistic about the economic turmoil and have a strong confidence that Thailand will again become economically successful. Thai teens also have a strong belief in their personal ability to contribute to the success of the country.

The company conducted the three-year study, focussing on groups of teenagers in 20 Asian countries, in an effort to learn about modern teenagers' lifestyles and interests. The survey also looked into the different types of media affecting Asian teenagers, and how they were influenced by these media.

Young consumers in Asia believe in values influenced by their families.

Unlike their counterparts in Western and some Asian countries, such as Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Thai teens are fairly conservative and do not like to challenge what they see as normal standards. They seem to prefer sentimentality and humour. Most successful in Thailand are big-hit action films or sentimental movies. Similar to Thais, teens in the Philippines also take a more conservative approach.

McCaughan said teens had two sources of money before the crisis: allowance and extra money, both coming from their parents.

As parents cut down extra money because of the crisis, teenagers are now more careful in spending their money. After-school snacks and movies are now thoroughly planned, with an exact amount of money to be paid calculated well in advance.

Different from individualistic Western teenagers, Asian teens value involvement and belonging.

McCaughan said Thai and Asian teens were more open about respect for their parents, talking proudly of their families. They don't want to be frustrated, they fit in with their group and the surrounding society and tend to cling to the same course of things. Western youth, is much more segmented.

Asian teens are also ''belonging-oriented''. For them, friends are critically important in establishing their role in their group and society. Friends help define and develop each other's personalities, value and behaviour, as well as offer support, security and privacy.

According to the study, Japan is a big source of influence on Asian teenagers, starting from technology and ending with fashion, music and media, computer games and cartoon books. Japanese comic books show them latest trends of fashion. Asian teens are also subject to a major influence from the US -- from big-hit action movies and music, and from European countries such as France and Italy -- in terms of fashion.

McCaughan says that Thai teens have a good attitude to Thai people of all age groups and always prefer to remain Thai, even when under the influence of American culture.

The hottest media in Asia, from a teenager's perspective, is digitally-interactive and group-oriented. To Asian teens, digital equipment items are every-day appliances, including video tapes, compact discs, digital video discs, computers, Internet devices, pagers, and cellular phones.

BY KWANCHAI RUNGFAPAISARN

The Nation