Candidate Number: 78918

Candidate number: 78918

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

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 well-being. 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.

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.

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 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 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, thistransformed 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 norelationships 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 accomplishmentof 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 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.

Furthermore, previous research into the relationship between materialism and well-being 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 desirableconsumer goods has an effect on this relationship between materialism and well-being.

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 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 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).