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The impact of self on materialism among teenagers
Author(s) -
Araujo Gil Luciana,
Leckie Civilai,
Johnson Lester
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of consumer behaviour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.811
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1479-1838
pISSN - 1472-0817
DOI - 10.1002/cb.1573
Subject(s) - materialism , interdependence , social psychology , psychology , loyalty , construct (python library) , self construal , group analysis , affect (linguistics) , sociology , epistemology , philosophy , computer science , social science , theology , communication , programming language
No previous research has investigated the relationship between the concept of self and materialism, especially among teenagers. Our study seeks to reverse this trend by examining how independent self‐construal and interdependent self‐construal affect materialism among Brazilian teenagers (grades 7 through 12). Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling. We find that independent self‐construal has a positive effect on materialism. Furthermore, we created three sub‐constructs out of the original interdependent self‐construal construct, none of which affected materialism in the same way. Group dependency , a need to achieve the group's authorisation, increases materialism; group loyalty , an attitude of group fidelity, has no effect on materialism; and group respect , a respect for group decision, diminishes materialism. These are interesting results, because they question our prior beliefs on the matter and introduce new factors into the scholarly discussion of this issue. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.