$32 Billion needed to bail out Christmas, survey reveals
PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Think the economic meltdown is
something only adults worry about? Think again. A survey conducted by youth
opinion research company NODE RESEARCH found that 84% of America's 39 Million
9 to 17 year olds are very or somewhat worried about current economic
conditions. More than half of all kids and teens expect that economic
conditions will affect the amount of gifts they find under their Christmas
tree. While the government might bail out Wall Street, there is no expectation
of help for Holiday shopping on main street ... with a recession in Wii's,
iPods and clothing expected.
The majority of kids, even those as young as 9 or 10, are worried about
economic conditions. "These results point to the enormous responsibility
parents and teachers -- and even major news media -- have to explain and
educate young people about economic issues" says Mike Fassino, Node's Director
of Youth Research. "Remember," Fassino adds, "these are kids that came of age
during the economic expansion of the early 21st Century. The Internet Bubble
happened BEFORE some of these kids were even born!" While slightly more boys
than girls are troubled by US economic conditions, African American youth are
statistically significantly less likely than Asian, Caucasian or
Hispanic/Latino youth to be worried about the economy. This stratification by
race and ethnicity is most evident among teens -- 92% of Asian 13-17 year olds
report being worried about the economy, compared to 74% of African American
13-17 year olds.
America's economic situation has an immediate impact on young people--51%
expect to receive fewer Holiday gifts this year than last. Only 9% expect more
gifts. "There is a huge correlation between kids' feelings about the economy
and what they expect to see under the Christmas tree," Fassino says. "Almost
70% of the kids that aren't worried about economic conditions expect more or
the same amount of gifts this year. But of those kids who expect fewer gifts,
90% are worried about the economy."
So what do kids want as Holiday gifts that have them so worried? NODE has
been tracking the Holiday wish lists of kids since 2004. This year, Nintendo's
Wii is on the top of boys' wish lists, followed by Money, XBOX360 and
Ripstick. Apple's iPod is on the top of girl's wish lists, followed by the
Wii, money and clothes. Speaking of holiday wish lists, Fassino said, "This is
the third year in a row we've found the Wii at the top of holiday wish lists-
it was released around this time in 2006. Microsoft's Xbox has clearly moved
up on boys' wish lists and there has been a remarkable strengthening of the
Wii among girls compared to last holiday season. Last year, cell phones were
on lots of tween and teen girls' wish list. This year, it's a Wii."
"This year," Fassino said, "the average retail price of the average 10
year olds' serious wish list is $794. With 39 million tweens and teens, we're
looking at 31 billion dollars to bail out Christmas!"
ABOUT THE SURVEY
Results are based on Internet surveys with a nationally representative
sample of 2,500 9-17 year olds recruited from NODE Research's SayNation.com
teen survey community. The sample of kids was selected to exactly match the US
census in terms of age, gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status and
geographic location. The survey was conducted on November 21-22, 2008.
For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence
that the maximum margin of sampling error is +/- 2.0 percentage points. In
addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in
conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public
opinion polls.
ABOUT NODE RESEARCH
Node Research, Inc. (www.noderesearch.com) is a Philadelphia based full
service market research company specializing in youth and teen survey
research. Interested kids and their parents are invited to join Node's
research community by visiting www.saynation.com.
Node has a special community for Spanish speaking kids and their parents:
www.elpremioclub.com.
DATA CITED
Q5: How worried are you personally about the current US economic conditions?
All 2500 9-12 13-17 9-12
Respon All YO YO All YO
dents Boys Boys Boys Girls Girls
Very
worried 35.6 37.4 37.9 37.1 33.7 29.0
Somewhat
worried 48.4 48.1 46.2 49.3 48.7 49.3
Subtotal
(very/
somewhat
worried) 84.0 85.5 84.1 86.4 82.4 78.3
Not very
worried 13.4 12.1 11.7 12.4 14.7 19.8
Not at all
worried 2.6 2.4 4.2 1.2 2.9 1.9
Subtotal
(not very/
not at all
worried) 16.0 14.5 15.9 13.6 17.6 21.7
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
13-17
YO African Hispanic/
Girls American Asian Caucasian Latino
Very
worried 37.4 33.7 32.1 36.0 47.6
Somewhat
worried 48.3 42.7 53.2 49.7 39.4
Subtotal
(very/
somewhat
worried) 85.6 76.4 85.4 85.6 87.0
Not very
worried 10.7 20.8 10.5 11.9 10.5
Not at all
worried 3.6 2.8 4.2 2.4 2.5
Subtotal
(not very/
not at all
worried) 14.4 23.6 14.6 14.4 13.0
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Q7: Compared to last Holiday season, do you think you will receive...?
All 2500 9-12 13-17 9-12
Respon All YO YO All YO
dents Boys Boys Boys Girls Girls
More presents
this year
than last
year 8.8 11.6 10.4 12.4 6.1 5.8
Fewer presents
this year
than last
year 50.3 51.4 50.2 52.1 49.3 45.1
About the same
amount of
presents this
year as last
year 40.9 37.0 39.4 35.5 44.7 49.1
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
13-17
YO African Hispanic/
Girls American Asian Caucasian Latino
More presents
this year
than last
year 6.3 8.4 11.8 8.5 11.2
Fewer presents
this year
than last
year 52.4 49.1 51.4 50.8 47.7
About the same
amount of
presents this
year as last
year 41.3 42.5 36.8 40.6 41.1
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
