Browsing by Author "Säynevirta, Heidi M."

The purpose of this research is to examine self-indulgent behaviour of young adults in low income households. I focus my research both on what purchases a person with low income sees as indulgence and in what kind of situations they resort to indulgent behaviour. I base my research on previous Finnish research on consumerism in low income households and studies about self-indulgence and gifting oneself. As a definition for low income households I use the common European practice on counting those households who earn less than 60% of the median income as low income households. The research data was gathered as an internet survey to 20-34 year old childless persons whose households earn approximately 1800€ or less per month. 213 people who met the criteria answered the survey. From the data I categorized the most common purchases and situations classified as indulgent, as well if the reason for respomdent's low income or the age had any effect on answers. Instead of finding causal connections between different variables, the purpose of this study was to describe the most common methods of self-indulgence. This research concludes that people with low income do pamper themself often. 80% of the respondents pampered themselves multiple times a month. Most of the self-indulgence was performed through food and drink. Especially delicacies and more expensive (than their average) groceries were used for indulgence. Eating out, going to cafeterias, and consuming alcohol were common methods for self-indulgence. In addition, money was spent on clothes, culture, and free time recreation. The results were parallel to other studies concerning self-indulgence and self-gifting. Even if there was less money to spend, the purchases were similar to what people usually buy to pamper themselves.