About This Project

Economic growth in developing societies often brings the issue of adolescents’ materialistic values and behavior to the forefront of popular conversation. Attempts to achieve short-term happiness by fulfilling materialistic goals might hurt people’s well-being, in the long run. Hence, factors contributing to materialistic values and the underlying mechanisms are crucial.

 

Based on a psychosocial view, this project examines links between youths’ self-regard (e.g., level of self-esteem, external contingent self-worth, self-esteem stability) and their materialistic values, and the moderating role of environmental factors (e.g., individualism-collectivism, social norms about materialism).

 

This research employs a person-environment interaction perspective, showing that trait and contextual factors interact to predict adolescents’ emphasis on materialism.