Every day people spend different amounts of money on buying stuff or paying for bills. Spending is not confined to the older individuals, but even among the young population in the society spend a lot. For instance, teenagers, who in most cases depend on their parents for support in all ways including financially, spend a lot. With the little they get from their parents as pocket money, they were studied and their spending habits were revealed.
Considering the age gap, children who are below the age of 10 years tend to spend three times less than those who are 15 years. BBC News and National Statistics Office (ONS), both agree that age and sex of a child are greatly considered when it comes to spending. According to ONS, 2015–2017 financial years showed that children who are 15 years had a weekly expenditure of up to £25.00 compared to their juniors (7 years) who spent about £7.40 (ONS, 2018). According to BBC, girls’ spending usually overtake boys’ spending at age 10–12 before it accelerates at ages 13–15 (Peachey, 2018). Expenditure between boys and girls at the age of 7–12 is similar all through, but the moment teenage years set in, the expenditure gap widens with girls spending £1.70 to £2.80 every week compared to boys (ONS, 2018; Peachey, 2018). Between the ages of 13 and 15, girls had a total weekly expenditure of up to £20.20 while that of boys was £17.30 (Peachey, 2018). The factor for the huge gap in spending was because of the girl's needs, for instance, makeup kits, toiletries and shampoo among other things (ONS, 2018; Peachey, 2018). Spending analysis showed that a higher percentage of the children age 7 to 15 considered a soft drink within a two week period with most of them being 13 to 15 years-old.
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The BBC News article on the spending of teenagers used ONS as its main source of information. Considering the ONS and the way it has presented its data and all the results, BBC News failed to match up to its source. The news article on BBC News website about teenagers spending is more like a summary of the main study which left many details out and has different figures compared to the ONS study.
The two articles, the main study on ONS and BBC News, have a number of similarities and differences. For instance, the main study on ONS has a financial year “(2015 to 2017)” while BBC has none. More so, the main study is more detailed compared to the BBC article. BBC News article rushes to speak about boys and girls spending, thus leaving behind other vital data.
The BBC News article is sketchy as it rushed to giving information and left out a number of research points from the main study. For instance, the BBC article failed to mention how ONS managed to get how children spend their pocket money, which the main study accurately states that the diaries had to be used in a fortnight’s period (ONS, 2018).
With the little children get from their parents as pocket money, they use it in different ways. All the same, their spending varies with age and gender with girls spending more than boys and the older spending more than the young.
References
Peachey, K. (2018, February 15). Teenagers' spending habits revealed. BBC News . Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43070841
Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2018, February 15). What do children in the UK spend their money on? Retrieved from https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/expenditure/articles/whatdochildrenintheukspendtheirmoneyon/2018-02-15
