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Relationship Between Materialism and Subjective Well-Being Among Different Income Groups

Social Work

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Title Relationship Between Materialism and Subjective Well-Being Among Different Income Groups
Materializmo ir subjektyvios gerovės ryšys skirtingas pajamas gaunančių tiriamųjų grupėse
 
Creator Žukauskas, Šarūnas
Žukauskienė, Rita
 
Subject materialism; subjective well-being; income
materializmas; subjektyvi gerovė; pajamos
 
Description Research on materialism and well-being has drawn attention in recent decades. In consumer societies, material goods have become a symbol of happiness and success (e.g. Garðarsdóttir and Dittmar, 2012); although many research results show exactly the opposite. One of the most frequent drawbacks of high materialistic orientation is reported to be lower satisfaction in life and lower satisfaction in many life domains (e.g. Chancellor and Lyubomirsky, 2011). Most researches show significantly lower subjective well-being in materialistic subjects, regardless of their income (Kasser and Ryan, 1996; Kasser and Ahuvia, 2002) and explain this correlation by intrinsic and extrinsic pursuit of goals, as suggested by Kasser and Ryan (1993, 1996). However, other researchers report interaction between income and pursuit for material well-being, e.g., that higher income might lower negative impact of materialism on subjective well-being (e.g. Nickerson et al, 2003). In this research we used Richins and Dawson (1992) Material Values Scale (MVS), Satisfaction with life scale (Diener et al., 1985), Scale of Positive and Negative Experilatesence (SPANE, Diener et al., 2009) to measure relationship between materialism and subjective well-being among different income groups. Our sample consisted of 106 adults living and working in Lithuania. We found that subjective well-being was correlated with income (Spearman’s rho 0.308, p<0.01). Income also showed significant correlations with positive affect (Spearman’s rho 0.308, p<0.01), but had no significant correlations with negative affect. Materialism was correlated with negative affect (Spearman’s rho 0.228, p<0.05). Centrality subscale of MVS also correlated with negative affect (Spearman’s rho 0.316, p<0.01), and happiness subscale was negatively correlated with subjective well-being (Spearman’s rho 0.316, p<0.01). Further analysis showed that materialism was an increasingly negative affect, regardless of income level. Subjective well-being was negatively related to the income level, regardless of the level of materialism. Our research results support findings of Kasser and Ahuvia (2002), Kasser and Ryan (1993), showing that material wealth does not affect the relationship between materialism and well-being. Possible limitation of this study is higher than average income of the sample. Almost 33 per cent of the sample reported monthly income that was double than the average salary in Lithuania and only about 10 per cent reported income that was lower than average.
Didelė dalis iki šiol atliktų tyrimų rodo neigiamas sąsajas tarp subjektyvios gerovės ir materializmo visose pajamų grupėse (pvz.: Kasser ir Ryan, 1993). Naujesniais tyrimais nustatyta, kad neigiamą ryšį tarp materialinių gėrybių siekimo ir laimės veikia pajamų lygis – didesnės pajamos mažina arba panaikina ryšio stiprumą (Nickerson ir kt., 2003). Šiuo tyrimu buvo siekta įvertinti materializmo ir subjektyvios gerovės sąsajas skirtingas pajamas gaunančių tiriamųjų grupėse Lietuvoje. Tyrime dalyvavo 106 Lietuvoje gyvenantys suaugę asmenys (40 vyrų, 64 moterys, tiriamųjų amžiaus vidurkis 31 metai). Materializmui matuoti buvo naudota Richins ir Dawson (1992) Materializmo skalė, pasitenkinimas gyvenimu buvo vertintas Pasitenkinimo gyvenimu skale (Diener ir kt., 1985), Teigiamos ir neigiamos patirties skale (SPANE, Diener ir kt., 2009) bei specifiniais klausimais, skirtais vertinti pasitenkinimą atskiromis gyvenimo sritimis. Tyrimo rezultatai rodo, kad pajamos teigiamai siejasi su pasitenkinimu gyvenimu ir teigiamu emocingumu. Materializmas siejosi su neigiamu emocingumu, materializmo centriškumo subskalė siejosi su neigiamu emocingumu, o laimės subskalė siejosi su žemesniu bendru pasitenkinimu gyvenimu. Atlikta dispersinė analizė rodo, kad subjektyvi gerovė mažėja mažėjant pajamoms nepriklausomai nuo materializmo lygio, o neigiamas emocingumas auga dėl aukštesnio materializmo lygio visose pajamų grupėse. Mūsų tyrimo rezultatai sutampa su Kasser ir Ryan (1993), Karabati ir Cemalcilar (2008) ir kitų autorių rezultatais, pabrėžiančiais neigiamą materializmo įtaką gerovės jausmui nepriklausomai nuo gaunamų pajamų lygio.
 
Publisher Mykolo Romerio Universitetas
 
Contributor —
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Date 2013-05-28
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
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Format application/pdf
 
Identifier https://www3.mruni.eu/ojs/social-work/article/view/372
 
Source Social Work; Vol 12, No 1 (2013): Social work; 187-200
Socialinis darbas; Vol 12, No 1 (2013): Social work; 187-200
2029-2775
1648-4789
 
Language ltu
 
Relation https://www3.mruni.eu/ojs/social-work/article/view/372/360
 
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