Consumer Behavior

Gender identity in psychology has been researched since 1930s and made its way into investigating differences between genders in consumption theories in 1960s. Many researches focused on different consuming behaviours of the two genders within different aspects of consumption. Thus, many researchers have been looking at the ways men and women perceive shopping, how they shop, where they shop, what aspects of service in shops influence their buying decisions, etc. However, what was common for all the researches is the fact that they related their investigation to the difference in needs of the two genders and how those differences may be traced in buying practices of men and women. Most of the researches also included several variables such as class, social status, level of income as well as cultural difference and other into their investigation.

In the present paper gender differences were looked from the angle of belongingness and family relationship on the level of marriage or cohabitation. The factors of social and financial status are omitted. The main aspects taken into account are the location - food stores - and the content of the shopping basket disregarding its monetary value. The assumption was that what people buy may reflect their belongingness and family relationship on the level of marriage or cohabitation. Moreover, only single (those who were shopping just by themselves alone) shoppers were taken into account. However, again the common need of the both genders is to satisfy their need in food.

Traditionally, men are considered to earn the means of leaving and women are supposed to transform those means into comfortable leaving. This notion has been relevant since the hunters' pre-historic societies, when men hunted game to bring it to their communities and women were responsible for cutting and preparing it. However, at those societies men and women lived together in one community and shared things for common use. Although nowadays things have enormously changed from the pre-historic ways of life, similar basic behaviours of "hunting and caring" may be traced in the buying behaviours of men and women according to which assumption about their belongingness may be made.

Thus, if a man is buying fast food, food that can be easily and quickly prepared in a microwave, products like bread, milk, sausages, dumplings, and other food that is easy and quick to prepare and consume, this man would most likely be single or might be a student. He has no one at home to take care of his "game" and cook it. He is not concerned with cooking his meal, but he is rather concerned with actual satisfying his need in food. The food may be characterized as unhealthy and the drinks would most probably include coffee, maybe bagged tea, beer, and soda. However, such men can also make themselves occasions and prepare a decent meal for themselves once in a while.

A man buying more or less healthy food that