What Does Vacation do to our Family? Contrasting the Perspectives of Parents and Children

Family has been identified as the most important consumption unit. This research builds on related theories of family system and vacation functions and empirically examines the dimensionality of family vacation functions. Through focus group interviews and survey techniques, a typology of family vacation functions was identified. Stressing both "home environment" and "destination environment," "we" and "individual," the functions are "Bonding and Sharing," "Communication," "Escape and Relaxation," "Children's Learning," and "Novelty Seeking." Fathers, mothers, and children showed significant differences in their perception of these five dimensions. Parents, especially mothers, appeared to be much more group well-being oriented, and their aspirations for vacation performing various functions were much more pronounced. Children did not demonstrate the equal amount of enthusiasm towards family vacation. Implications were discussed from both academic and applied perspectives.