题　目：Kidult Consumption: A Liberating Outlet for Adult Role Stress

嘉　宾：陈启慧 助理教授 香港科技大学商学院 

主持人：史正煜 助理教授 上海交通大学安泰经济与管理学院

时　间：2026年5月13日（周三）14:00–15:30

地　点：上海交通大学 徐汇校区 安泰经济与管理学院A303

内容简介:

Kidult consumption, the engagement of adults with products traditionally associated with children, has become a prominent marketplace phenomenon, yet its psychological underpinnings remain underexplored. Across eight studies combining experiments and secondary data analysis, this research identifies adult role stress, the psychological strain arising from the demands of socially recognized adult roles when experienced as unclear, contradictory, or excessive, as a novel antecedent of kidult consumption. We demonstrate that heightened adult role stress increases adults’ desire for kidult products, and this effect operates through a mechanism of liberation seeking, the psychological motivation to seek temporary release from the internalized restrictions that structure adult life. Kidult consumption thus serves as a playful act of symbolic liberation, allowing adults to escape from the role constraints. The effect is robust across multiple operationalizations of adult role stress and is distinct from nostalgia or cuteness preference. Moreover, it is amplified for kidult products based on intellectual properties (IPs) high (versus low) in adult identity distance. Together, these findings reveal how adult role stress paradoxically fuels playful liberation in consumption, transforming emotional discomfort into expressive consumption.

演讲人简介：

Qihui Chen is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Business School. She completed her master degree in Marketing from Peking University and her PhD in Marketing from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Her research focuses on how social perception and motivation affect consumption and preferences. More specifically, her substantive research interests include parenting and education, consumer and societal wellbeing, and innovation in the marketplace. Her work has been published in premier marketing journals, including the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Marketing. In addition, she has presented at top-tier academic conferences, such as the ACR Conference and the SCP Conference, and has given research talks at many leading universities around the globe.

She has been serving as a reviewer for several journals, including the Journal of Marketing Research, the International Journal of Research in Marketing, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and the Journal of Business Research.

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