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Analyses the influence of the use of Spanish and of regional languages in consumers and homes of five bilingual regions of Spain: Balearic Islands, Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia and Valencia. After eliminating the effects of social class and of habitat, a fair number of significant differences have been found between speakers of Castilian (i.e. Spanish), bilinguals and speakers of their own vernacular language, in very varied areas: food, drinks, home cleaning products, financial services, cosmetics and personal hygiene products, shopping stores, reading of newspapers, supplements and magazines, home equipping and makes of car. Language has revealed itself as a good criterion for segmentation in various sectors and regions in order to reach each linguistic group more efficiently.

Aims to demonstrate, from a marketing and market segmentation point of view, the need to adapt the construct of the family life cycle to the particular features of the Spanish social environment, given the obvious differences in the structure of Spanish households in relation to the USA. From this marketing and cross‐cultural approach, a review of the literature has been conducted on the evolution of the construct and the most significant models that have been arising as the outcome of that evolution. A new life cycle model has been designed reflecting these particular features. Also, on the basis of data taken from the Family Budgets Survey, the capacity of the adapted model has been analysed for predicting household expenditure in comparison with the main US models and the most habitual socioeconomic variables, and for detecting market segments with different needs. The results obtained show the utility of the construct adapted, both as a segmentation variable and as a predictor, together with the typical socioeconomic variables that explain household expenditure. The practical and academic utility of the model from a marketing approach, its potential adaptation to the Mediterranean European environment, and the main methodological limitation of the research are also discussed.