The Effect of Parents' Childhood Life Experiences on Their Motivation and Interest in Buying Toys for Their Children

The social context perspective suggests that individuals' present experiences are shaped by their past experiences through various sociopsychological, sociocultural and comparative approaches. From a social psychological and cultural standpoint, the differentiation arising from parents' childhood experiences, family structures, communication styles, social environment and the sociodemographic characteristics of their formative years can be analyzed to understand its impact on their motivation and interest in purchasing toys for their children. When examining parents' purchasing behaviors for their children, it is evident that they often make decisions based on their personal preferences. Consequently, within the framework of consumer behavior models, analyzing parents' childhood experiences and their influence on purchasing motivations, perceptions, and attitudes toward toys provides deeper insights into how their toy-buying motivations evolve. To address this, a mixed-method research design was employed. In the first stage, in-depth interviews with 60 parents were conducted using structured questions. In the subsequent quantitative stage, 221 parents were surveyed to explore the relationship between their childhood experiences, parenting styles and motivations for purchasing toys. The qualitative findings highlighted key concepts such as play, toys and family communication, emphasizing the importance of psychological sub-dimensions in consumer behavior models. Furthermore, the study revealed that parental styles significantly influence their motivation to buy toys for their children. Given these findings, future studies could benefit from expanding the sample size and integrating psychological and cross-cultural methodologies to deepen the understanding of intergenerational consumer behaviors. Investigations into psychology-based dimensions, neuroscientific perspectives, and cross-cultural analyses are particularly recommended to further expand the understanding of this phenomenon.