Consumption characteristics and guidance of contemporary college students

Abstract: On the one hand, the leading trend of college students' consumption is good, they pursue practicality, fashion and individuality, but rational consumption is still the mainstream; On the other hand, in the conflict between traditional consumption view and modern consumption view, especially under the influence of western consumerism, college students' consumption value orientation is also biased, and at the same time, due to the objective difference between the rich and the poor, a multi-level consumption level is formed, which has a negative impact on the psychology of college students, especially poor students.

Keywords college students; Consumption characteristics; Problems

In recent years, the study of college students' consumption has been paid more and more attention by all walks of life. There are great differences in the field of youth research on the judgment or understanding of the current consumption situation of college students: is the current consumption of college students high or reasonable? In order to deeply analyze the characteristics and existing problems of contemporary college students' consumption, the author makes the following analysis on the characteristics and existing problems of college students' consumption through questionnaire survey, discussion and interview, as well as some feelings that I am engaged in education and management work in colleges and universities and get along with the majority of students day and night:

First, the consumption characteristics of contemporary college students

The author believes through investigation that, Contemporary college students have changed in consumption psychology, consumption behavior, consumption concept and consumption structure, but generally speaking, the leading trend of college students' consumption is good, which conforms to the requirements of the development of the times, and presents the following characteristics:

(1) Pursuing practicality, rational consumption is the mainstream

Consumption concept embodies values, and personal values guide personal consumption concept. What are the values of college students in the 21st century? The research group of "New Student Survey" believes that one of the characteristics of contemporary college students' value orientation is practicality through the investigation of "college students' value orientation". Then, under the guidance of practical values, college students' consumption naturally has a similar feature, that is, practicality is the basic starting point of consumption. On the one hand, the practical characteristics of college students' consumption are reflected in the pursuit of value for money. For example, in the investigation of the main starting point of college students wearing brand-name clothes, 77% students choose "brand name means good quality and durability"; 11% students choose to "wear famous brands, have face and be able to express their individuality"; 8% students choose to "follow the trend of society without much consideration"; 2% of the students choose to "mainly wear it for others to avoid being looked down upon." It can be seen that with the continuous improvement of college students' self-subjectivity, the main motivation for wearing famous brands is not a strong orientation of others, but to pay attention to their own understanding of the quality of brand-name clothing and then choose again, not blindly believing in advertisements, having personal opinions and trusting their own judgments. On the other hand, it is reflected in consumption for self-development, the most representative of which is "textual research fever". From the analysis of college students' consumption structure, it can be seen that the proportion of college students' extracurricular learning such as purchasing reference books, participating in computer, foreign languages, accounting certificates, teacher qualification certificates and other research studies accounts for 12.6% of the total consumption expenditure. On the one hand, college students are concerned about textual research in order to stimulate themselves to be knowledgeable and widely heard, and on the other hand, to increase their weight in future job-hunting competition. Obviously, their standards are highly practical. College students pay attention to rational consumption while pursuing practicality in consumption. In the survey, it is found that the first factor that college students consider when buying goods is price. For example, 81.7% of students said that "when buying things, price is the first factor I consider", and 79.1% said that "before buying a product, I usually go to different stores to compare prices." It shows that most students show a cautious and rational attitude in shopping. From this point of view, the consumption of college students is rational on the whole and the purpose of consumption is clear. The pursuit of practicality and rational consumption embodies the personality characteristics of contemporary college students.

(2) Pursuing fashion, integrating advanced consumption with real consumption

In the era of globalization, the living environment of college students is changing with each passing day, which is rich and colorful. With the support of the fourth media network, college students are increasingly close to the world, and the distance from the world is getting closer and closer. College students know the most fashionable information in the world through the Internet. At the same time, their personality characteristics of novelty and novelty determine that they will always stand in the forefront of the times and will not fall behind. This is also the case in consumption. Contemporary college students all embody fashion information in both consumption psychology and consumption behavior. The most prominent feature is the use of mobile phones. In this survey, it was found that the mobile phone ownership rate of students has reached 63%. In addition, computers and related consumption are also their pursuit, ranging from a few tens of yuan network card to computers that are pets of contemporary college students. Thirdly, hairstyles, clothes, ornaments and daily necessities, and there are many "new" people on the university campus. It is found in the survey that "popularity" is the third factor for college students to consider whether to buy after price and quality. Writing letters has become a thing of the past. Sending emails, short messages and chatting online have become the main ways for college students to communicate and contact their feelings, and communication costs account for about 11% of their usual living expenses. When asked whether to buy famous brand products if the economy permits, 81% of the students said yes, which fully reflected the needs of contemporary college students to pursue high-quality, high-brand and high-grade life. However, college students are a special consumer group. They have no fixed income and can hardly support themselves. The main source of living expenses is their parents' income. The pursuit of mobile phones and computers, although reflecting fashion and trends, is a high consumption after all, which is a kind of advanced consumption for college students. However, college students in the new century, while pursuing fashion and ahead of consumption, have less irrational impulse and unrestrained profligacy, and more rational and self-adjusting consumption psychology rooted in reality. In the survey, we also found that the price of college students' mobile phones and computers is basically proportional to their living expenses. This shows that students with different levels of living expenses pursue different levels of consumption according to their actual situation. It is not difficult to see that today's college students have been able to "make money out of it" and "spend it with their own money". Even the consumption in advance comes from the abundant family economic foundation. It can be seen that "ahead" and "reality" are harmoniously integrated in the consumption psychology of today's college students.

(3) Pursuing individuality and integrating diversified consumption with independent consumption

Individualization can also be understood as fashion and stylization. With the explosive increase of new knowledge, the rapid popularization and application of new technologies and the deep influence of new information media on daily life, fashion is formed and popularized more quickly, and at the same time, it has a more distinctive theme and a more humanized expression form, thus becoming a symbolic and popular color and tone in college students' daily life and social activities, that is, becoming a stylized thing. Reflected in the consumption of college students, it also shows unique personality characteristics, that is, some college students are always willing to spend according to their own hobbies and needs, which reflects their individual personality characteristics in consumption, and they do not want to be influenced by others. For example, in dressing, they always decorate themselves according to their own aesthetic taste, and they are not afraid of being disliked by others, and they are not afraid of others saying that they are unconventional and different. While pursuing individual consumption, college students still have a tendency of diversified consumption. The development of this tendency stems from the manifestation of college students' individuality: different individuals pursue different consumption hotspots, and the same individual also loves different consumption hotspots. For example, from the consumption structure of college students, in addition to the consumption necessary for life and study, there are also increasingly diverse and widespread consumption of communication, love, entertainment, telephone, internet and beauty cosmetics. Facing the stimulation of various consumption fashions and the social characteristics of diversified consumption, contemporary college students have determined a strong consumption concept of independent complex while retaining diversified consumption. In this questionnaire survey, there is a question (multiple questions) about "the factors that mainly affect your consumption concept". 81.8% of the students interviewed chose "their own economic conditions", 78.8% chose "their own attitude towards life", and only 13.1% chose "the consumption situation of classmates around them". The weakening of conformity psychology and the strengthening of independent psychology indicate that the consumption concept of contemporary college students is developing in a benign situation. In addition, in the survey of other consumption concepts, 79.1% of the students agreed that "the virtue of thrift is never out of date"; 75.8% students agree that "consumption is my personal business". It can be seen that college students in the new century tend to be mature, steady and more assertive in the process of pursuing individuality and diversified consumption.

Second, the problems existing in the consumption of contemporary college students

(1) There is a deviation in the consumption value orientation of college students

With the advancement of globalization, some developed countries use the trend of globalization and their own economic advantages to continuously export their own consumption values. On the one hand, the introduction of western consumption concept brings civilized consumption concept, on the other hand, it also brings negative factors, especially the wave of "consumerism" rising in western developed countries has a negative impact on college students' consumption values. This kind of consumption values advocates material consumption and pursues hedonism. Due to the immaturity of college students' consumption psychology, while advocating secular material enjoyment, some college students' consumption value orientation is biased in group imitation consumption behavior. First, there is cognitive ambiguity in consumer values. Because of the conflict between China's traditional consumption view of "being proud of frugality" and the western consumption view, contemporary college students of the same age as the reform and opening up are more willing to accept new ideas and things, and constantly reflect their vanguard in practice. However, under the influence of western consumerism, contemporary college students' consumption values are ambiguous, which leads to some bad consumption behaviors, such as excessive pursuit of fashion and comparison consumption, which makes some college students care more about things than people. Too much emphasis on the enjoyment of real life leads to the loss of ideals, ambitions and due fighting spirit, and even leads to crime due to excessive pursuit of things. Second, there is a tendency to evaluate the secularization of consumer values. The fast and changeable social life constantly arouses one new social trend after another, and the life creed of pursuing fashion is becoming stronger and stronger in college students' campus, pursuing near profit and pursuing chic is increasingly prominent in many college students. In the face of all kinds of new consumption trends, they are afraid of falling behind and competing to follow suit. Inviting guests to dinner in various names makes human consumption bullish; "Valentine's Day Package" and "Valentine's Day Rose" make love spending excessive; "Mobile phone is a fashion ornament" makes the mobile phone family grow. On the surface, they seem to choose their own life, but in fact they are influenced by the secularization trend of consumption, and the consumption values of contemporary college students tend to evaluate secularization.

(2) Multi-level consumption levels have a negative impact on college students' psychology

The objective differences between the rich and the poor on campus have actually embedded college students of the same age in different classes, and this economic difference and stratification have also led to their different value orientations, ways of thinking and personality characteristics. For college students whose consumption is at a higher level, there is a phenomenon of high consumption, although the proportion is not large, but this phenomenon is easy to mislead other students' consumption conformity behavior, thus triggering the wind of imitating and comparing.