INTRODUCTION

It is widely acknowledged that the number of elderly in Malaysia has been increasing. It is projected that by year 2020 the proportion of those aged 60 years or older will likely constitute 9.5 per cent of the total population (Department of Statistics 2000). In the past, studies on the elderly in Malaysia tended to focus on health and health care, sociological and demographic perspectives, as well as some attempts to understand active ageing and the well-being of elderly (e.g. Mohd Noor 1997, Poi 1998, Yassin 2001, Da Vanzo and Chan 1994). However, research on the effects of life events and stress on consumer behaviour in terms of how older people cope as consumers when facing life events was scarce (Ong and Md Nor 2004).

The ageing processes and experiences over the life span are different for different people and people of identical age cannot be assumed to have shared the same experiences or moved through the same ageing process (Moschis 1994). Ageing and age-related behaviours are multidimensional in nature. Several studies conducted in the West reveal that people tend to make changes in their behaviour as consumers during periods of life transitions (e.g. Andreasen 1984; Price and Curasi 1996; Lee et al. 1998, 2001, Mathur et al. 2003). One of the explanations for such behavioural changes can be linked to the perspective of stress and role transitions, and or the adjustments that individuals make in order to handle difficult situations and solve problems (Lazarus and Folkman 1984; Stone et al. 1988; Murrell et al. 1988, Mathur et al. 2003). Since major life events are usually stressful, the occurrence of such events makes demands on the individual which require adjustments in the individual's usual behaviour patterns (Thoits 1995).

Andreasen's (1984) focused on how individuals experiencing life events undergo changes in consumer behaviour based on the concept of lifestyle changes. According to him, households may decide to change their interests and priorities in marginal or significant ways, and this leads to changes in lifestyles.