Under-appreciation of mature consumers as a numerous and comparatively wealthy market segment has resulted in not only lost revenues for business, but also lost consumption and service opportunities for the elderly. In response to expressed needs for more research into actual and desired consumption by older consumers, this study examined the apparel and shopping preferences of mature women in America. Independent living residents were surveyed concerning fashion consciousness, fashion information sources and shopping behaviours. Young and mature consumers' reactions to female apparel ensembles were compared. Mature subjects purchased apparel for pleasure or need, but less for conformity. Decisions were influenced more by fit and comfort than by fashion, despite suggestions that dressing stylishly was important. New fashions were encountered via catalogue illustrations, social gatherings and window displays. Subjects high in fashion consciousness had greater financial and social involvement with fashion, greater chronological-to-cognitive age differences and larger clothing budgets. Young and mature consumers' responses to apparel illustrations differed significantly. As the mature market expands, attention to age-divergent definitions of fashion (such as those based upon admiration of comfort) will determine the success of apparel businesses. Assessment of cognitive age will facilitate identification of those mature consumers most predisposed toward fashion consumption.

Some researchers have suggested that a precondition of affective submissiveness may increase the likelihood of female victimization in sexual assault, whereas others have suggested that criminal offenders use perceptions of vulnerability when selecting a victim. In this study, based on American college students, men (decoders) rated videotaped women (encoders) dominant versus submissive using a semantic differential instrument. Cue evaluators analyzed the body language and appearance of the videotaped women using a Likert instrument. The results suggest that (a) men form differentiated perceptions of dominant versus submissive women, (b) such perceptions substantially rely on nonverbal cues, (c) dominant and submissive women display visually different behaviors and appearances, and (d) men tend to select submissive females for exploitation.

The Sproles Consumer Interest and Priorities questionnaire was administered to the 3,036 members of Home Economists in Business (HEIB) in order to test the hypotheses that the data would reveal: (1) significant correlations between fashion awareness and clothing economic practices, and (2) identifiable con sumer profiles, concerning economic attitudes and activities, applicable to in dividuals exhibiting either high or low fashion awareness. Positive correlations were observed between fashion awareness responses and the concepts that: (1) clothing quality is more important than price, (2) shopping for clothing is a plea surable activity, and (3) much time is devoted to shopping for clothing. Signifi cant differences were observed between persons exhibiting either high or low fashion awareness in the degree to which: (1) shopping for clothing was per ceived as a pleasurable activity, (2) time was devoted to shopping for clothing, (3) clothing was purchased on impulse, and (4) the monetary aspects of clothing were emphasized.

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