How Young People Spend.

Opinion Research Corp. surveyed US pre-teenagers and teenagers in July and found that 95% of pre-teens and 91% of teens get money from their parents or relatives to spend as they please.

Over-one half of respondents in both age groups say they get allowances, but under 20% of respondents in both age groups say they actually save the money they receive as gifts or allowance.

Apparel is the most popular item for both pre-teens and teens to buy with their “disposable income,” with one-half of teens and 16% of pre-teens noting that they usually spend their money on clothing. Following clothing is video games with exactly 14% of both age groups buying such items.

Opinion Research surveyed 480 pre-teenagers between the ages of six and 11 and 229 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17.

The importance of the Opinion Research findings is supported by a recent Harris Interactive Youth Pulse study reporting that pre-teenagers spend over $19 billion annually and teenagers spend over $94 billion annually in the US. However, the reader should note that Harris defines pre-teenagers as those between the ages of eight and 12 and teenagers as those between the ages of 13 and 19.

Harris also found that nearly 90% of pre-teenagers’ income is parent-supplied, whereas a smaller 37% of teenagers’ income comes from their parents.

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