The impact of color preference on adolescent children's choice of furniture

Abstract It is widely believed that children will choose furniture that has the same color as their preferred color. Furthermore, for different categories of furniture, the color they preferred for furniture is consistent. A study of 508 adolescent Chinese children between the ages of 12 and 16 has been carried out to explore whether color preference influences their choice of furniture when they are provided with various color options (16 chromatic and five achromatic colors). This work tested six items of furniture in two functional spaces (study and bedroom space). Findings indicate that adolescent children's color preferences did indeed affect their furniture choice, but the extent varies with the categories of furniture. Furthermore, this study reveals that children's preference for furniture in different functional spaces is slightly different. Some effects of gender and age were also explored. This work discusses the implications of adolescent color preference and color choice for children's furniture color design.