Materialistic Values Among Chinese Adolescents: Effects of Parental Rejection and Self-esteem

Background: Materialistic values among today’s adolescents have been a concern around the world, yet few studies concerning Chinese adolescents’ materialistic values have been conducted. Additionally, the joint effects of parental rejection and self-esteem on materialistic values remain unclear. Objective: We examined materialistic values in a sample of adolescents in mainland China, and tested whether parental rejection was positively correlated with adolescents’ materialistic values and whether the process was moderated by self-esteem. Methods: We recruited 593 adolescents from 7th to 12th grade (299 boys; age: M = 16.41, SD = 1.84) and asked them to complete a questionnaire containing parental rejection (parental rejection subscale from s-EMBU; Arrindell et al. in Personal Individ Differ, 27(4):613–628, 1999), self-esteem (Self-Esteem Scale; Rosenberg in Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1965), materialistic values (Youth Materialism Scale; Goldberg et al. in J Consum Psychol 13(3):278–288, 2003), and demographic information. Results: Chinese adolescents did not strongly endorse materialistic values and the 7th grade students had a significantly lower level of materialistic values than students from the other five grades. No gender difference was found. Parental rejection was positively correlated with adolescents’ materialistic values, and the relationship was moderated by self-esteem. If faced with parental rejection, adolescents with higher self-esteem were less susceptive, without being as materialistic as those with lower self-esteem. Conclusion: Parental rejection might thwart adolescents’ basic psychological needs. Therefore, adolescents pursued materialistic aspirations to compensate their needs. Adolescents with higher self-esteem were less materialistic, because they coped with parental rejection more effectively than those with lower self-esteem.