  A new study out of Temple University says mothers look to their teenage daughters when deciding what clothes or beauty products to buy. (Shutterstock)
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Parents may tout the influence they have over their children's behaviour, but when it comes to families with teenage daughters, it's the moms who take after the kids.
A new study out of Temple University's Fox School of Business says mothers look to their teenage daughters when deciding what clothes or beauty products to buy.
The study calls the phenomenon "the consumer doppelganger effect."
"This finding provides initial support for the notion of reverse socialization and suggests that the impact adolescents have on their parents is much more profound than has been credited to them," said marketing professor Ayalla A. Ruvio, lead author of the study, which will be published in the Journal of Consumer Behavior.
The researchers surveyed 343 mother-daughter pairs, with the average age of the mother at 44 and the average age of the daughter at 16.
They found that moms who consider themselves youthful and fashionable look to their daughter as a shopping influence, while daughters who consider themselves mature and fashionable ignore what's in their mom's closet altogether.
