This study introduces new exploratory variables, i.e., parents' attitudes toward children's play in fast food restaurants, into the consumer socialization model. In order to develop a clearer understanding of the variables that contributed to family consumption patterns in fast food restaurants, an examination of hypothesized path model is necessary. The path model was composed of family consumption patterns, parent-child relationship variables, social structure variables, age of life-cycle variable, and parents' attitudes toward children's play in fast food restaurants. Subjects included 1,068 parents who were customers of fast food restaurants, and each of them completed the questionnaire. Results of this study provided support for the causal effects of a suggested three-factor solution for both family consumption patterns and parents' attitudes toward children's play in fast food restaurants. The subsequent data analyses suggested that the demographic variables and the family consumption patterns have significant differences. The primary differences are seen in the predictor variables such as disposable income, education, social economic status, religion, and age. The cluster analysis suggested three segments for both parents' attitudes toward children's play and family consumption patterns in fast food restaurants. Subsequently, the results shown that there are substantial differences among the three segments. The path analysis indicated that gender, education, age, and parents' attitudes toward children's play significantly predicted the parent-child relationship and family consumption patterns in fast food restaurants. Evidence was found for the mediator effect of the parent-child relationship on outcome variables and independent variables. Important implications and suggestions for fast food restaurants industry, consumer researchers, and management professionals were also presented.
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