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The relationship between materialism and personal well-being: A meta-analysis
Helga Dittmar1, Rod Bond1, Megan Hurst1
1School of Psychology, University of Sussex.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|October 28, 2014
Summary
Materialism, or valuing money and possessions, is linked to lower personal well-being. This negative association is stronger for multifaceted materialism measures and impacts health behaviors and self-perception more than life satisfaction.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Well-being Research
- Consumer Behavior
Background:
- Theoretical psychology suggests prioritizing wealth negatively impacts well-being.
- Existing research presents varied implications regarding the consistency of this negative association.
Purpose of the Study:
- To meta-analytically investigate the relationship between materialistic orientation and personal well-being.
- To examine how different measures of materialism and types of well-being outcomes influence this relationship.
Main Methods:
- Conducted a meta-analysis of 753 effect sizes from 259 independent samples.
- Analyzed data based on multifaceted materialism measures, money-specific measures, and various well-being indicators.
Main Results:
- Materialism showed a significant negative association with well-being, particularly for multifaceted measures (r = -.19).
- The strongest negative effects were observed for risky health/consumer behaviors and negative self-appraisals (r = -.28 to -.44).
- Moderator analyses indicated demographic, value context, and economic factors influence the materialism-well-being link.
Conclusions:
- Materialistic values are consistently linked to diminished personal well-being.
- Poor psychological need satisfaction may mediate this negative relationship.
- Further experimental and longitudinal research is needed to explore underlying mechanisms.
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