The effect of owning consumer goods on the relationship between materialism and well-being
in children
Word Count: 5896
Candidate Number: 78918
Project Supervisor: Dr Helga Dittmar
Candidate number: 78918
Abstract
This research aimed to investigate whether the actual level of consumer goods
children own has an effect on the relationship they experience between materialism and wellbeing. To investigate this, 553 children aged 7-10 years completed a questionnaire including
measures of materialism and well-being. Hierarchical multiple regressions determined the
relationships between materialism and well-being in four groups representing different levels
of owned consumer goods. Overall, a negative relationship was found between materialism
and well-being. This relationship was greatly influenced by the level of consumer goods the
children owned, with possible explanations provided. Future research needs to determine the
direction of causality of this relationship, with suggestions provided for interventions to
reduce the negative relationship between materialism and well-being.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my project supervisor Dr Helga Dittmar for giving me guidance
throughout my research project, and for allowing me to use part of the data obtained within
the Consumer Culture Project for my own research. I would also like to thank Dr Matt
Easterbrook for organising the data collection days in the local schools in the area. In
addition, thanks go to all of the other Psychology undergraduate students who helped with
this data collection and also to the schools and children who took their time to complete the
questionnaires.
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Introduction
An investigation into the effect of owning consumer goods on the relationship
between materialism and well-being in children is sorely needed. Whilst extensive research
has consistently found a negative relationship between materialism and psychological health
among adults (e.g. Belk, 1985), the existence of this association in children has yet to be
determined. What little research has been conducted with children has tended to focus on
those in secondary school (Piko, 2006; Froh, Emmons, Card, Bono & Wilson, 2011), with a
single study venturing into a younger cohort (Hebben-Wadey, 2011). In addition,
investigations into materialism have rarely incorporated a measure of physical health,
choosing to solely focus on psychological well-being. In terms of the influence of owned
consumer goods, a handful of studies have focussed on the moderating effect of income on
the materialism and well-being relationship (La Barbera & Gürhan, 1997), yet the effect of
owned consumer goods is yet to be explored. This research is of particular importance as it
could help to determine whether some groups experience stronger associations between
materialism and well-being due to their level of owned consumer goods.
Materialism and Self-Determination Theory
Materialism can be defined as “a preoccupation with, desire for, and emphasis on,
material goods and money to the neglect of other matters” (Garðarsdóttir, Janković &
Dittmar, 2008, p. 74). A vast amount of research has been dedicated to the effects of holding
such materialistic values on an individual (e.g. Belk, 1985). In addition, an invaluable source
when understanding the effects of materialism has been self-determination theory (SDT; Deci
& Ryan, 2000). This theory proposes that all humans have three innate psychological needs:
competence, autonomy and relatedness, which are satisfied through the fulfilment of intrinsic
goals. Individuals choose to fulfil goals such as these purely due to the interest and personal
growth they expect to gain from them (Kasser & Ryan, 1996). In contrast, extrinsic goals
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require the judgement of others to validate their success, and have been found to be negatively
correlated with competence, autonomy and relatedness need satisfaction (Kashdan & Breen,
2007). The SDT proposes that a focus on extrinsic, rather than intrinsic goals results in a
lower well-being, as a lack of attention is being given to the satisfaction of the innate
psychological needs. Several studies support this proposition, showing that the endorsement
of extrinsic and intrinsic goals is negatively and positively associated with well-being,
respectively (Kasser & Ryan, 1996). This is of particular interest to the present study as one
example of an extrinsic goal is a striving for financial success; in other words, a materialistic
goal. Based on the SDT, materialism should be negatively related to well-being, due to the
subsequent lack of psychological need satisfaction.
Materialism, Subjective Well-Being (SWB) and Depression
Endless studies have validated this proposed negative link between materialism and
well-being. Whilst these studies have chosen to represent well-being using a variety of
measures, they have all come to the same conclusion. Numerous correlational studies with
adult and university student samples have uncovered a significant negative relationship
between the endorsement of materialistic values and overall life satisfaction (Richins &
Dawson, 1992; Vansteenkiste, Duriez, Simons & Soenens, 2006; Ahuvia & Wong, 1995;
Roberts & Clement, 2007; Wright & Larsen, 1993; Ryan & Dziurawiec, 2001). Additional
research has found significant negative correlations between materialism and SWB (Belk,
1985; La Barbera & Gürhan, 1997) and measures of happiness (Kasser & Ahuvia, 2002), and
significant positive correlations between materialism and measures of unhappiness (Kasser &
Ahuvia, 2002) and general negative affect (Kashdan & Breen, 2007).
In addition research has also focussed on the relationship between materialism and
depression. Whilst not quite as extensively researched, a consistent finding has still arisen that
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holding materialistic values or prioritising financial success aspirations is positively linked
with depression in adults (Kasser & Ryan, 1993; Smith, 2010; Kashdan & Breen, 2007). As a
result, it is now widely accepted in the field that materialism has an unfavourable relationship
with psychological well-being among the adult population (Smith, 2010).
Materialism and Physical Health
Whilst a clear relationship has been established between materialism and
psychological well-being, very little is known about the association between physical health
and materialism. Within the body of research into materialism and well-being, only Kasser
and Ahuvia (2002) and Kasser and Ryan (1996) appear to have included a measure of
physical health. In a university student sample, Kasser and Ahuvia (2002) found a positive
relationship between materialistic values and physical symptoms, whilst Kasser and Ryan
(1996) discovered in an adult sample that extrinsic aspirations were again positively
associated with physical symptoms. These results hint that materialism may have a similar
relationship with physical health as it does with psychological health, yet this sheer lack of
substantial research prevents firm conclusions being made.
Materialism in Children
A key issue with regards to materialism and well-being research is the common focus
on adult samples (Hebben-Wadey, 2011). Evidence shows the existence of a negative
relationship between materialism and SWB (Belk, 1985) and a positive relationship between
materialism and depression (Smith, 2010) in adults, yet this cannot be extrapolated to a
younger population. A handful of studies have attempted to investigate the presence of these
relationships in children, but have produced mixed results (e.g. Piko, 2006). Among
American children aged 14-19 years, Froh, Emmons, Card, Bono and Wilson (2011) found an
initial small negative association between materialism and life satisfaction. However, this
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transformed into a positive association when gratitude was controlled for. In addition, no
significant relationship was found between materialism and depression, contrary to the
findings in adult samples (Kashdan & Breen, 2007). Piko (2006) conducted similar research
using Hungarian children aged 14-21 years. The relationship between life satisfaction and
materialism was found to differ depending on the aspect of materialism that was being
investigated. Materialistic success (judging someone’s success based on material possessions)
was positively related to life satisfaction, whereas materialistic happiness (the belief that
material goods bring happiness) was negatively related to life satisfaction. The sole study
investigating materialism and well-being in pre-adolescent children (aged 8-11 years) found
no relationships between any well-being measures and materialism (Hebben-Wadey, 2011).
Far from replicating the findings found among adults (La Barbera & Gürhan, 1997),
the little research conducted with a younger cohort provides a complicated picture. It is clear
that further research is needed to determine the true relationship between materialism and
well-being in children.
Actual Level of Consumer Goods
Whilst the SDT suggests that all humans are equally affected by the endorsement of
extrinsic goals such as materialism (Deci & Ryan, 2000), an alternative perspective proposes
a key moderating factor in this relationship. Goal-attainment perspectives hypothesise that
well-being is determined not by the content of a goal, but by whether the goal is successfully
achieved (Emmons, 1986). As a result, this theory predicts that the negative relationship
between materialism and well-being only exists if the materialistic goal has not been fulfilled;
the negative relationship should cease to exist at the accomplishment of the goal, regardless of
its extrinsic nature. The few studies testing this theory regarding materialism and well-being
have focused on the use of money to achieve the goals (e.g. La Barbera & Gürhan, 1997). It
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has been found that a combination of high income and high materialistic values results in
higher SWB than a combination of low income and high materialistic values (La Barbera &
Gürhan, 1997), suggesting that high income contributed to the fulfilment of the materialistic
goal. Similarly, Nickerson, Schwarz, Diener and Kahneman (2003) found that the negative
relationship between the goal for financial success and life satisfaction was moderated by
household income. At the top end of the income spectrum, there was little difference in life
satisfaction between individuals, regardless of the strength of their financial success goals.
It should be noted that these studies are focussing on the influence of income on the
relationship between materialism and well-being, as opposed to level of material goods.
Understandably, it may be assumed that an increased income automatically equates to an
increased ability to purchase material goods, yet no study appears to have directly measured
the level of owned consumer goods in relation to the materialism and well-being link.
The Present Research
Whilst numerous studies have highlighted a clear negative relationship between
materialism and psychological well-being in adults (Smith, 2010), little research has
attempted to investigate this relationship in children. Self-determination theory suggests that
an identical negative relationship should exist within children, as the extrinsic characteristics
of materialistic goals prevent the satisfaction of innate psychological needs in all humans,
regardless of age (Deci & Ryan, 2010). However, the small cluster of research in existence
into materialism and well-being in children provides a complicated pattern, with no clear
conclusion able to be drawn (Piko, 2006). In addition, the literature regarding the associations
of materialism has almost exclusively focused on the psychological aspects of well-being with
little regard being given to the relationship physical well-being may have with materialism.
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Furthermore, previous research into the relationship between materialism and wellbeing has given little consideration to the potential effect that owning material goods could
have on this relationship. Whilst SDT argues that extrinsic goals will always lead to a reduced
well-being (Deci & Ryan, 2000), goal-attainment perspectives propose that well-being is
determined by whether a goal is satisfied or not, regardless of its nature (Emmons, 1986).
Preliminary research into this area has suggested that this may be the case, with the
relationship between financial success goals and well-being being moderated by income level
(Nickerson et al., 2003). However, the present study appears to be the first to investigate
whether the actual level of consumer goods a child owns influences the relationship they
experience between materialism and well-being.
Due to the lack of previous research using a pre-adolescent sample, the present study
aims to investigate whether the ability to achieve materialistic goals has an effect on the
potential relationship between materialism and well-being in children aged 7-10 years. To
accomplish this, it will first be investigated whether a materialistic value orientation is linked
to lower well-being in children, based on the well-established negative relationship between
materialism and well-being in adults. Second, if this relationship exists, it will be examined
whether children’s actual level of owning desirable consumer goods has an effect on this
relationship between materialism and well-being.
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Method
Participants
Five hundred and fifty-three primary school children (293 boys, 260 girls) took part in
this study. Participants ranged in age from seven to ten years (M = 8.4 years), with the
majority of participants being white British (>90%). All participants were recruited from three
local Primary Schools which varied in SES; two schools were below average for the number
of pupils eligible for free school dinners, whereas the third was above average for eligibility.
Participants were taken from a larger ongoing research project on Consumer Culture and
well-being in children (Dittmar, Banerjee, Wright & Easterbrook, n.d.).
Measures
Internalisation of Materialistic Consumer Culture Values. The Materialism subscale
of the Consumer Culture Values Scale was used to assess materialistic internalisation. The
scale was developed as part of the larger Consumer Culture study by Dittmar et al. (n.d.). The
items were based on qualitative interviews and developed to be age appropriate. The items are
rated on a 4-point scale, ranging from not at all true to very true, with children asked to rate
how true each statement is for them. For example, “I wish I was rich like the celebrities on
TV”. This 13-item scale had good reliability,  = .85.
Extrinsic Materialistic Motives. The Extrinsic subscale of the Materialistic Motives
Scale was used, again designed within the larger Consumer Culture study (Dittmar et al.,
n.d.). Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 60 children in years 4-10 to determine
what motives these children held for materialism. Motive themes were then determined, with
questions designed around them to include in the questionnaire scale. The 16-item subscale
used a 4-point rating scale, ranging from disagree a lot to agree a lot, and asked children to
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rate which reasons were relevant to them when answering why having money and cool things
was important. An example reason was “it makes you more popular”. The scale had excellent
reliability,  = .93.
Depression. The 10-item Children’s Depression Inventory- short form (CDI-S),
developed by Kovacs (1985), was used to assess depression by asking children which of three
responses was most true for them. An example set of options is “I am sad once in a while; I
am sad many times; I am sad all the time”. The scale had good reliability,  = .80.
Subjective Well-Being. An adapted version of the Life Satisfaction Scale (Huebner,
1991) was used to incorporate measures of affect, allowing subjective well-being to be
assessed rather than just life satisfaction. Using a 4-point rating scale, participants indicated
how much they agreed with statements such as “my life is going well” and “in the last month,
I have felt happy very often”. This 7-item scale had good reliability,  = .80.
General Health. General health was assessed using an adapted version of the somatic
symptoms subscale of the General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg & Hillier, 1979).
Participants indicated how true each health statement was for them in the past few weeks,
with a 4-point rating scale, ranging from not at all true to very true, being used to answer. An
example statement is “I have often felt stomach pains”. This 6-item scale had questionable
reliability,  = .69, yet was just on the threshold for good reliability, so was deemed
satisfactory to include in the analysis.
Level of Consumer Goods. This was assessed using a sociometric measure designed as
part of the larger Consumer Culture study (Dittmar et al., n.d.), and based on Coie and Dodge
(1983). The measure required participants to nominate three others in their class who they
believed had the “most stuff”. These nominations were then converted into a standardized
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score indicating how often each child was nominated as having the “most stuff”, illustrating
which children were viewed as having the highest level of consumer goods by their peers.
SES. An adapted version of the SES scale by Currie, Elton, Todd and Platt (1997) was
used. School code was also used as an additional measure of SES, as the number of children
eligible for free school dinners differed between the three schools, reflecting a difference in
SES between the schools.
Procedure and Ethical Issues
Prior to the research team entering the schools for data collection, parental consent
was gained for the children to take part in the study, as all participants were under the age of
16 years (this consent form can be viewed in the appendices). Participants completed the
Consumer Culture questionnaire, which incorporated the measures used in the present study,
in their classes at school (questionnaire also available in the appendices).
Before being given the questionnaire, participants were briefed about the procedure.
They were informed that the questionnaire was looking at how they felt about themselves,
their life, and the other children in their class. They were also told that there were no right or
wrong answers to the questions. It was reiterated that their answers would be kept confidential
from their classmates and teachers, with only the research team looking at their responses.
Also, code numbers were used so that their name could not be identified on their
questionnaire. The children were also made aware that they could skip any question that they
felt uncomfortable answering, and that they could choose to not complete the questionnaire if
they wished. Participants were given as much time as they needed to complete the
questionnaire.
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On completion, the aims of the study were explained to the children, with an
opportunity being given to ask questions. The children were advised that if they had been
affected by any of the questions to seek guidance from their teacher, or to use other organised
forms of support within the school.
It should also be noted that a CRB check was gained prior to researchers entering the
schools and that a teacher was always present when the questionnaires were being completed.
Ethical approval has been gained from the School of Psychology for the present project, with
full ethical approval having also been gained for the larger Consumer Culture project (Dittmar
et al., n.d.). The present research complied fully with BPS ethical guidelines.
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Results
General Relationship between Materialism and Well-Being
Descriptive statistics for, and intercorrelations between, the study variables can be
seen in Table 1. These statistics illustrate that, on average, children scored just above the
midpoint for materialistic values, just below the midpoint for extrinsic materialistic motives,
below the midpoint for depression, and above the midpoint for both subjective well-being
(SWB) and general health. This indicates that, as a whole, the children scored around average
for materialism, and above average for measures of well-being.
To investigate whether the negative relationship between materialism and well-being
found in adults is also present in children, one-way partial correlations between the study
variables were calculated (see Table 1). These partial correlations controlled for two measures
of socio-economic status (child’s SES and school code) to ensure that potential relationships
between the measures were not influenced by the differing average SES levels of children
from the three schools.
As can be seen in Table 1, five of the six correlations between the materialism and
well-being measures are significant, with only general health not having a significant link
with materialism internalisation. The significant findings unanimously indicate a negative
relationship between materialism and children’s well-being.
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Table 1
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations between Study Variables for Overall Sample (N =
476)
Variable
1. Materialism
internalisation
2. Extrinsic
materialistic
motives
3. Depression
M (SD)
2.65
(.65)
2.21
(.77)
1
-
2
.56***
-
1.32
.09*
(.34)
4. Subjective
3.21
-.09*
well-being
(.64)
5. General
2.99
-.02
health
(.65)
Note. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
3
4
.09*
-
-.09*
-.59***
-
-.08*
-.41***
.27***
5
-
Effect of Children’s Ownership of Desirable Consumer Goods on the Relationship between
Materialism and Well-Being
To investigate whether the actual level of consumer goods children own has an effect
on the negative relationship found between materialism and well-being, the sociometric
nominations of “most stuff” were used as an indication of level of consumer goods. All
children received a standardized score indicating how often they had been nominated as
“having the most stuff” by their classmates. The highest scores on this continuum represent
the children who were believed to have the most stuff, whereas the lowest scores were
assigned to the children rarely receiving a nomination for “having the most stuff”; in other
words, these children were believed to have the “least stuff”. These standardized scores were
then used to create four groups representing increasing levels of ownership of fashionable and
desirable consumer goods. Figure 1 helps to illustrate how these four groups correspond to the
standardized scores allocated to the children. The “bottom bottom” group includes the 25% of
children who received the least number of “having the most stuff” nominations, whereas the
“top top” group comprises the 25% of children who received the greatest number of “having
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the most stuff” nominations. Simply put, these groups represent the children with the lowest
and highest levels of consumer goods, respectively. The “top bottom” and “bottom top”
groups in turn represent the children with increasing numbers of “having the most stuff”
nominations. For each group label, the second word indicates whether the children are above
or below the nominations scale midpoint. Those above the midpoint generally own a fair
number of consumer goods, whereas those below the midpoint are generally more lacking in
consumer goods. The first word of each group label then indicates whether each child is in the
top or bottom half of their overarching group, so specifies whether the child has a higher
number of consumer goods in comparison to others in their overarching group, or a lower
number in comparison.
Figure 1. Illustration of the location of each group with regards to the actual level of
consumer goods a child owns (i.e. amount of “stuff” by quartiles).
These four groups have been created to allow the relationship between materialism
and well-being to be investigated separately for each group. By doing so, it can be
investigated whether the relationship between materialism and well-being differs depending
on which group it was being investigated within; in other words, we are addressing this
question: Does the relationship between materialism and well-being differ depending on the
level of consumer goods a child owns?
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To investigate the relationship between materialism and well-being, hierarchical
multiple regressions were conducted for each group separately. By running hierarchical
multiple regressions, the unique relationship of each materialism variable with the well-being
variable could be investigated, as the effects of the additional variables were controlled for.
For each consumer goods group, three initial regression analyses were conducted, one for
each well-being variable (depression, subjective well-being and general health). Each
regression analysis consisted of six steps. Extraneous variables were first controlled for (step
1: SES, school code; step 2: gender). Materialism internalisation was then entered (step 3),
followed by extrinsic materialistic motives (step 4). To investigate whether the potential
relationships between materialism and well-being could differ by gender, interaction terms
between the materialism measures (mean-centred) and gender were then entered into the
regression analysis (step 5: materialism internalisation x gender; step 6: extrinsic materialistic
motives x gender).
The following sections provide descriptive statistics and partial correlations between
the study variables for each of the four consumer goods groups. This is then followed by the
results of the three initial hierarchical multiple regression analyses conducted within each of
the four groups, with the significant model (if any) reported for each well-being variable.
Bottom Bottom Group
Descriptive statistics and partial correlations (controlling for SES and school code)
between the study variables for the bottom bottom consumer goods group are displayed in
Table 2.
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Table 2
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations between Study Variables for Bottom Bottom Group (N
= 108)
Variable
1. Materialism
internalisation
2. Extrinsic
materialistic
motives
3. Depression
M (SD)
2.66
(.64)
2.26
(.78)
1
-
2
.52***
-
1.37
.21*
.23*
(.35)
4. Subjective
3.16
-.21*
-.24*
well-being
(.70)
5. General
2.90
-.05
-.18‡
health
(.74)
Note. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001, ‡p < .07
3
4
5
-.57***
-
-.42***
.27**
-
Table 3 displays the results of the hierarchical multiple regression analyses for
depression and SWB within the bottom bottom group. As can be seen, within this lowest level
of consumer goods group, materialism internalisation has a significant positive relationship
with depression, and a significant negative relationship with SWB, with no other variables
being significantly associated with the two well-being variables. Both models partially
violated the normality of errors assumption, with the SWB model including an abovethreshold number of outliers, so caution should be taken when generalising these results to the
wider population.
When investigating the relationship between materialism and general health, extrinsic
materialistic motives was found to be marginally negatively associated with general health, β
= -.23, p = .06. This result is not tabulated due to its non-significant nature.
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Table 3
Summary of Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses for Depression and Subjective WellBeing
Variable
Step 1
SES
School code
Step 2
SES
School code
Gender
Step 3
SES
School code
Gender
Materialism
internalisation
Total R²
Note. *p < .05
ΔR²
.007
Depression
β
p
.02
.09
.81
.39
.03
.09
.03
.79
.38
.80
.01
.00
.05
.23
.93
1.00
.63
.03
.001
.045*
.053*
Subjective well-being
ΔR²
β
p
.029
-.16
.10
.02
.81
.002
-.17
.09
.02
.84
-.04
.67
.045*
-.15
.13
.11
.30
-.06
.51
-.23
.03
.075*
Top Bottom Group
Descriptive statistics and partial correlations (controlling for SES and school code)
between the study variables for the top bottom consumer goods group are displayed in Table
4.
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Table 4
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations between Study Variables for Top Bottom Group (N =
136)
Variable
1. Materialism
internalisation
2. Extrinsic
materialistic
motives
3. Depression
M (SD)
2.52
(.64)
2.03
(.77)
1
-
2
.63***
-
1.30
-.05
(.32)
4. Subjective
3.21
.06
well-being
(.56)
5. General
3.05
-.01
health
(.59)
Note. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
3
4
.10
-
-.09
-.46***
-
-.08
-.38***
.13
5
-
As a result of the hierarchical multiple regressions conducted in this top bottom
consumer goods group, extrinsic materialistic motives was found to be marginally positively
associated with depression, β = .24, p = .06, and marginally negatively associated with SWB,
β = -.23, p = .07. A marginal positive association was also found between the interaction of
extrinsic materialistic motives and gender, and general health, β = .55, p = .07. Additional
analysis was conducted to determine what the effect of gender was on the relationship
between extrinsic materialistic motives and general health. Two hierarchical multiple
regressions were conducted, one for each gender. Extraneous variables were again controlled
for (step 1: SES, school code), with materialism internalisation being entered in step 2, and
extrinsic materialistic motives being entered in step 3. Table 5 outlines the key results of this
regression analysis. A significant negative association between extrinsic materialistic motives
and general health was found in boys, with no significant relationship being found in girls.
The depression model partially violated the normality of errors assumption, the
homoscedasticity assumption, and had an above-threshold number of outliers. The SWB
model also partially violated the normality of errors assumption and had an above-threshold
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number of outliers. Caution should be taken when generalising the findings of both models to
the wider population.
Table 5
Summary of Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses for General Health, Split by Gender
Variable
Step 1
SES
School code
Step 2
SES
School code
Materialism
internalisation
Step 3
SES
School code
Materialism
internalisation
Extrinsic
materialistic
motives
Total R²
Note. *p < .05.
ΔR²
.062
Boys
β
p
.00
-.25
.98
.03
.001
Girls
Β
p
-.10
-.02
.44
.89
-.10
-.01
-.04
.45
.96
.79
.001
.00
-.24
-.02
.98
.03
.84
.051*
.113*
ΔR²
.010
.002
-.00
-.14
.16
.98
.25
.26
-.10
-.02
-.06
.47
.89
.70
-.32
.04
.05
.77
.013
Bottom Top Group
Descriptive statistics and partial correlations (controlling for SES and school code)
between the study variables for the bottom top consumer goods group are displayed in Table
6.
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Table 6
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations between Study Variables for Bottom Top Group (N =
117)
Variable
1. Materialism
internalisation
2. Extrinsic
materialistic
motives
3. Depression
M (SD)
2.73
(.69)
2.33
(.78)
1
-
2
.54***
-
1.30
.20*
(.32)
4. Subjective
3.22
-.21*
well-being
(.65)
5. General
2.99
-.03
health
(.64)
Note. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
3
4
.05
-
-.07
-.64***
-
-.11
-.37***
.22*
5
-
Table 7 summarises the results of the hierarchical multiple regression analyses for
depression and SWB within the bottom top consumer goods group. Materialism
internalisation was found to be significantly positively associated with depression, and
significantly negatively associated with SWB. Both models partially violated the normality of
errors assumption, homoscedasticity assumption, with the depression model also having an
above-threshold number of outliers, meaning caution should be taken when applying both
models to the wider population.
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Table 7
Summary of Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses for Depression and Subjective WellBeing
Variable
Step 1
SES
School code
Step 2
SES
School code
Gender
Step 3
SES
School code
Gender
Materialism
internalisation
Total R²
Note. *p < .05.
ΔR²
.039
Depression
β
p
.16
.15
.09
.12
.16
.13
.06
.10
.17
.50
.13
.03
.12
.24
.16
.77
.21
.02
.004
.046*
.089*
Subjective well-being
ΔR²
β
p
.028
-.16
.08
.01
.88
.001
-.17
.08
.01
.96
.04
.68
.041*
-.14
.13
.10
.33
-.01
.89
-.23
.03
.070*
As can be seen in Table 8, the hierarchical multiple regression analysis found general
health to be significantly, negatively associated with gender and school code. In addition, this
regression analysis found that extrinsic materialistic motives was marginally negatively
associated with general health, β = -.22, p = .07. Again this is not tabulated due to its nonsignificant nature.
Table 8
Summary of Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis for General Health
Variable
Step 1
SES
School code
Step 2
SES
School code
Gender
Total R²
Note. *p < .05.
ΔR²
.066*
General health
β
p
-.12
-.25
.19
.01
-.10
-.20
-.21
.26
.03
.03
.040*
.105*
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Candidate number: 78918
Top Top Group
Descriptive statistics and partial correlations (controlling for SES and school code)
between the study variables for the top top consumer goods group are displayed in Table 9.
Table 9
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations between Study Variables for Top Top Group (N =
115)
Variable
1. Materialism
internalisation
2. Extrinsic
materialistic
motives
3. Depression
M (SD)
2.70
(.60)
2.23
(.73)
1
-
2
.55***
-
1.32
.03
(.38)
4. Subjective
3.24
.02
well-being
(.66)
5. General
3.01
.01
health
(.62)
Note. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
3
4
.01
-
.06
-.66***
-
.05
-.47***
.46***
5
-
Table 10 outlines the hierarchical multiple regression analysis for depression in the top
top consumer goods group. A significant association was found between depression and the
interaction of extrinsic materialistic motives and gender. Further analysis was conducted to
determine how gender was affecting the extrinsic materialistic motives and depression
relationship. Two hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted, one for each
gender. Variables entered into the model were SES and school code (step 1), materialism
internalisation (step 2), and extrinsic materialistic motives (step 3). The analysis results are
shown in Table 11, illustrating a significant positive association between extrinsic
materialistic motives and depression in boys, and a significant negative association between
the two variables in girls.
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Candidate number: 78918
The hierarchical multiple regression analyses for SWB and general health both
produced significant results; gender was found to be significantly, negatively associated with
both variables (Table 12). However, no relationship was found between the materialism and
well-being variables.
The initial depression model, boys’ depression model and SWB model all violated the
normality of errors assumption, with all five models in the top top group having an abovethreshold number of outliers, meaning caution should be taken when applying the findings to
the wider population.
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Candidate number: 78918
Table 10
Summary of Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis for Depression
Variable
Step 1
SES
School code
Step 2
SES
School code
Gender
Step 3
SES
School code
Gender
Materialism
internalisation
Step 4
SES
School code
Gender
Materialism
internalisation
Extrinsic
materialistic
motives
Step 5
SES
School code
Gender
Materialism
internalisation
Extrinsic
materialistic
motives
MI x gender
Step 6
SES
School code
Gender
Materialism
internalisation
Extrinsic
materialistic
motives
MI x gender
ExMM x
gender
ΔR²
.002
Depression
β
p
-.04
.01
.68
.93
-.05
.01
.15
.61
.95
.13
-.04
-.01
.16
.07
.67
.91
.10
.53
-.04
-.01
.16
.06
.67
.89
.11
.62
.01
.94
-.04
-.02
.03
.03
.68
.88
.95
.88
.01
.93
.13
.76
-.07
-.04
.19
-.16
.44
.68
.67
.36
.31
.05
1.02
-1.08
.05
.00
.021
.004
.000
.001
.074**
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Candidate number: 78918
Total R²
Note. **p <.01.
.101**
Table 11
Summary of Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses for Depression, Split by Gender
Variable
Step 1
SES
School code
Step 2
SES
School code
Materialism
internalisation
Step 3
SES
School code
Materialism
internalisation
Extrinsic
materialistic
motives
Total R²
Note. *p < .05.
ΔR²
.004
Boys
β
p
-.05
-.04
.67
.78
.001
ΔR²
.005
Girls
Β
p
-.03
.05
.86
.73
-.02
.03
.08
.92
.87
.61
.006
.05
-.04
.04
.68
.74
.78
-.12
-.19
-.16
.32
.18
.29
.01
.12
.30
.95
.49
.12
.41
.01
-.40
.04
.093*
.093*
.098*
.104*
Table 12
Summary of Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses for Depression and Subjective WellBeing
Subjective well-being
Variable
ΔR²
β
Step 1
.004
SES
.07
School code
.01
Step 2
.038*
SES
.08
School code
.02
Gender
-.20
Total R²
.042*
Note. *p < .05, **p < .01.
p
ΔR²
.001
.50
.89
General health
β
p
-.03
.02
.78
.85
-.01
.02
-.24
.89
.85
.01
.057**
.41
.87
.04
.058**
27
Candidate number: 78918
Discussion
The present study demonstrates that, in line with unanimous findings among adults
(e.g. Wright & Larsen, 1993; Smith, 2010), a negative relationship exists between materialism
and psychological well-being in children aged 7-10 years. Self-determination theory proposes
that this negative relationship is due to the extrinsic nature of the values “crowding out” more
intrinsic values, which serve to fulfil psychological needs (Deci & Ryan, 2000). The evidence
gained here suggests that this explanation could also be applied to pre-adolescent children, as
they too are experiencing a negative relationship between materialistic values and
psychological well-being. However, due to the correlational nature of this research, no
conclusions can be drawn regarding the direction of causality between these variables,
meaning it is equally plausible that lower well-being is triggering an increase in materialistic
values, as opposed to materialistic values decreasing well-being.
In addition, the findings provide some evidence for a negative association between
materialism and physical health in pre-adolescent children, with general health being found to
negatively correlate with one of the two materialism measures: extrinsic materialistic motives.
This indicates that materialism is related not only to psychological health, but may also be
associated with physical health. However, as this conclusion was only partially supported,
further investigation is needed to clarify this proposed additional relationship.
These findings provide some of the first evidence that a negative relationship exists
between materialism and well-being in pre-adolescent children. Whilst the small amount of
child-focussed previous research has demonstrated non-significant or inconsistent results
(Hebben-Wadey, 2011; Piko, 2006), these findings appear to be the first to indicate that
children experience a negative relationship identical to that experienced by adults (e.g. Belk,
1985).
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Candidate number: 78918
Whilst the present study has clearly demonstrated a link between materialism and
well-being in children, further research needs to determine the direction of causality between
the two. Ideally, longitudinal or experimental research is needed to determine whether a high
level of materialism is the precursor to decreased well-being, or vice versa. There may even
be a bidirectional relationship between the variables. However, until further exploration is
carried out, this is purely speculation. To date, little work has investigated the direction of
causality between materialism and well-being, with the limited research in existence
producing predominantly non-significant results (Smith, 2010; Laisawat, Jantarat, Ong &
Maschis, 2012), highlighting the great need for further research.
This study has also demonstrated that the relationship between materialism and wellbeing in children is influenced by the actual level of consumer goods owned. Yet far from
there being a simple, linear interaction between an increase in material goods and the strength
of the materialism and well-being link (as is the case suggested by goal-attainment
perspectives; La Barbera & Gürhan, 1997), it appears that the influence of consumer goods is
dependent on a child’s level of consumer goods in relation to the levels of those around them.
As stated earlier, the location of the four consumer goods groups on the “having the most
stuff” continuum is considered both with respect to whether they are above or below the scale
midpoint, and also whether they are in the top or bottom half of their overarching group (see
figure 1). The general trend of the results suggests that the relationship experienced by the
children between materialism and well-being was dependent on whether they were in the top
or the bottom half of their overarching group. Children in the bottom half of both overarching
groups experienced a negative relationship between materialism internalisation and subjective
well-being, and a positive relationship between materialism internalisation and depression.
The size of each relationship was virtually identical, indicating four very consistent
associations.
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Candidate number: 78918
In comparison, the children in the top half of both overarching groups predominantly
experienced non-significant relationships between materialism and psychological well-being
measures (although marginally significant relationships were found in the “top bottom” group
between extrinsic materialistic motives and both psychological well-being measures). When
considering these results, including the marginal findings, it shows that children in the top
half of their overarching group experience a much weaker relationship between materialism
and psychological well-being than children in the bottom half of their overarching group,
regardless of which overarching group they are in. However, the relationship between
materialism and depression in the “top top” group does not fit this trend; boys experienced a
positive relationship between extrinsic materialistic motives and depression, yet girls
experienced a negative relationship between these variables. This is inconsistent with the
majority of the results, as it suggests that girls in this group actually experience an
advantageous relationship between extrinsic materialistic motives and depression.
Despite this irregularity, the overall trend of the results implies an influence of social
comparison on the relationship between materialism and psychological well-being.
Festinger’s (1954) social comparison theory suggests that individuals have a drive for selfevaluation, which they satisfy by comparing themselves with others. If the individual is in a
worse position than their comparison target, their well-being decreases, and vice versa when
in a better position. In the case of the present study, children may be using social comparison
to judge their ability to fulfil their materialistic goals (meaning that goal-attainment
perspectives are still relevant, as their well-being is indirectly linked to the achievement of
materialistic goals). If children used the other group within their overarching group as a
comparison, the expected effects would be as follows:
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Candidate number: 78918

Those in the bottom half of the overarching group would experience decreased wellbeing, as comparison shows they do not have as many material goods as the top half
group, indicating a failure at fulfilling their materialistic goals.

Those in the top half of the overarching group should experience increased well-being
(or at least not a decrease), as they learn they are doing better than the other group at
fulfilling their materialistic goals, by owning more consumer goods in comparison.
This expectation is fairly well mirrored in the present study, suggesting that this complicated
relationship between materialism, social comparison, goal-attainment success, and
psychological well-being may exist. However, it must be stressed that until research is
conducted to determine the direction of causality between materialism and well-being, this
explanation is only speculatory. Conversely it may be that the level of owned consumer goods
has a direct influence on well-being, which in turn dictates materialism levels. Despite this,
these results are still the first to demonstrate that the level of consumer goods a child owns
can influence the relationship they experience between materialism and psychological wellbeing. This adds to the current literature by suggesting that the negative relationship between
materialism and well-being is not as robust as has been previously suggested within selfdetermination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), and can be influenced by additional factors.
A similar framework cannot be applied to the results regarding general health, as no
clear trend is evident. The only significant relationship found in any group was a negative
relationship between extrinsic materialistic motives and general health in boys in the “top
bottom” group. One possible explanation for this lack of similarity between psychological and
physical health is that the two areas are completely distinct from each other, with each
experiencing a unique relationship with materialism.
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Candidate number: 78918
This is one of the first studies to show that children as young as seven years of age
experience a negative association between materialism and well-being, and also that the level
of material goods these children own influences this relationship. The proven existence of
these relationships suggests that interventions are needed to focus on reducing the negative
relationship that children experience between materialism and well-being. In particular some
groups of children experience stronger forms of this relationship based on their level of
owned consumer goods, highlighting that some children are more “at risk” of this negative
relationship than others. Once research has been conducted to determine the direction of
causality between materialism and well-being, it will be possible to design interventions to
help reduce this negative relationship in children. Depending on the potential nature of this
relationship, interventions could focus on preventing materialism from having an adverse
effect on well-being; or conversely could prevent a decreased well-being from initiating
materialistic tendencies (or indeed could improve well-being in the first place). One possible
intervention method which could be used regardless of the direction of causality is
mindfulness training. Mindfulness, which is “the state of being attentive to and aware of what
is taking place in the present” (Brown & Ryan, 2003, p. 822), has been linked to decreased
depression, increased life satisfaction, and more positive affect (Brown & Ryan, 2003; Brown
& Kasser, 2005). Due to this, mindfulness training could be used to improve children’s wellbeing either after the negative effects of materialism, or as a preventative measure to stop
materialism from occurring. However, this is an initial suggestion and extensive development
and investigation would be needed before mindfulness training was instigated as an
intervention tool.
Whilst the present study has been able to establish the existence of a relationship
between materialism and well-being in children, one issue with the consumer goods measure
needs to be noted. A child’s level of consumer goods was determined through the use of
32
Candidate number: 78918
sociometric nominations of who in the class had the “most stuff” as opposed to a completely
objective measure of the number of material goods each child owned. However
methodologically speaking it would be impossible to physically record the number of material
goods the children own. Despite this, it may be useful for future research to investigate the
relationship between consumer goods levels derived from sociometric nominations and from
other measurement methods, such as personal- and parent-indicated levels of consumer goods
owned.
In conclusion, the present study has discovered that pre-adolescent children
experience a negative relationship between materialism and well-being, and that this
relationship is influenced by the actual level of consumer goods a child owns. Whilst future
research is needed to determine the direction of causality between materialism and well-being,
these preliminary findings indicate that interventions may be needed to reduce the likelihood
of this negative relationship from occurring, particularly in groups identified to be most at risk
of experiencing this relationship.
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Candidate number: 78918
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