Materialism and Satisfaction with Over-All Quality Of Life and Eight Life Domains

Previous research has shown that materialism relates negatively to satisfaction with many life domains. The present study broadens this body of research by examining the relationship between three dimensions of materialism and eight quality of life (QOL) domains in a large, diverse sample of U.S. respondents. Two hypotheses were tested: First, overall measures of materialism and satisfaction with QOL were thought to be inversely related. Second, the three dimensions of materialism and QOL domains were hypothesized to be negatively correlated. Results show that overall materialism and its happiness dimension were consistently negatively related to all eight measures of QOL. Materialism’s centrality and success dimensions were negatively correlated with seven and six of the eight QOL domains, respectively. Findings are discussed in light of Humanistic and Organismic theories, and other implications are considered.