Materialistic value orientation and wellbeing

People with a strong materialistic value orientation (MVO) believe that the acquisition of more money and expensive material possessions will improve their wellbeing and social standing. Paradoxically, striving for evermore money and material goods as a means of improving wellbeing often undermines...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCurrent opinion in psychology Vol. 46; p. 101337
Main Authors Dittmar, Helga, Isham, Amy
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2022
Subjects
Environment
Materialism
Materialistic Value Orientation
Wellbeing
Wellbeing
Environment
Materialistic Value Orientation
MVO
Materialism
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Summary:People with a strong materialistic value orientation (MVO) believe that the acquisition of more money and expensive material possessions will improve their wellbeing and social standing. Paradoxically, striving for evermore money and material goods as a means of improving wellbeing often undermines quality of life. This paper documents how MVO has been linked to poorer wellbeing across different facets of wellbeing (personal, social, and environmental) and that these negative associations have been recorded across the lifespan. However, it also shows that the link is complex in that it can be moderated by certain personal and cultural factors and is bidirectional in its nature. By demonstrating a predominantly negative effect of MVO on wellbeing, the evidence highlights a need for interventions to reduce MVO and alter how people relate to material possessions.
ISSN:2352-250X
2352-2518
2352-250X
DOI:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101337