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.

ljudy@ceibs.edu