To achieve competency as consumers in the marketplace, young people need to acquire specific consumer skills. To determine the influence of such socialization agents as television, family, peers, and school on the acquisition of these skills, 607 middle and high school students in Kentucky and North Carolina completed self-administered questionnaires which focused on four variables relevant to the consumer role: brand knowledge, price accuracy, consumer affairs knowledge, and socially desirable consumer role perceptions. The results indicated that consumer skills varied according to the age, sex, and social class of the respondents. Older adolescents were found to possess these skills to a greater extent than younger adolescents. Males could more accurately price products and services, had greater consumer affairs knowledge, and were more aware of socially desirable consumer behaviors than females; but females were more aware of available brands. Upper-class adolescents scored higher in all four skills than lower-class adolescents. Peers and television were the most influential socialization agents. From their peers adolescents apparently learned about the availability of brands and about consumer matters, while from television they learned perceptions of effective consumer behavior. Parents and schools, however, contributed little to the acquisition of these skills, highlighting the need for evaluating current consumer education materials and practices at school and suggesting that some consumer education efforts could be aimed at adults. (FL)