The high price of
materialism for kids:
Recent empirical
research
Tim Kasser, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
Knox College
Our culture of consumption tries to
convince people that a “good life” results from making
money, purchasing the right things, having the right
image, and attaining high status.
In other words, it attempts to get
us to believe that materialistic goals are valuable and
will bring happiness.
Past empirical research with adults
shows, however, that people who are more materialistic
are also less happy, have worse social relationships,
and act in more ecologically destructive ways (Kasser,
2002).
Research on materialism in children
is sparse. Thus, I conducted a study to assess
materialism in middle school and high school children (Kasser,
in press).
206 children between the ages of 10
& 18 (Mean = 14.2) living in the rural Midwest were
surveyed. Materialism was measured by asking children
to rate their level of agreement with four statements
like “When I grow up, I want to have a really nice house
filled with all kinds of cool stuff.” Some of the
statistically significant (i.e., p<.05) results are
reported below.
Personal well-being results.
Children who were more materialistic were less happy,
had lower self-esteem, and reported more symptoms of
anxiety.
Social behavior results.
Children who were more materialistic reported less
generosity and allocated less money to charity when they
imagined receiving a windfall.
Environmental behavior results.
Children who were more materialistic reported engaging
in fewer positive environmental behaviors (e.g., reusing
paper, using less water while showering).
In sum, consumer society propounds
materialistic messages that may lead children to be less
happy, to act in less prosocial ways, and to degrade the
environment.
Citations:
Kasser, T. (2002). The high price of materialism.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Kasser, T. (in press). Psychometric development of
brief measures of frugality, generosity, and materialism
for use in children and adolescents. In
Conceptualizing and Measuring Indicators of Positive
Development: What do children need to flourish?
New York: Kluwer/Plenum.
Tim
Kasser, PhD (tkasser@knox.edu) is associate professor of
psychology at Knox College in Galesburg, IL. He is
author of The High Price of Materialism (MIT Press,
2002) and co-editor of Psychology and Consumer Culture:
The Struggle for a Good Life in a Materialistic World (APA,
2004).
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