Is your child materialistic??

As I was scanning The Star Online this morning, I came across this interesting news article on a study to examine whether child materialism is linked to self esteem. According to the study, there seem to be direct relationships between the two i.e. if you have a low self-esteem child, the probability for him/her to be more materialistic is higher. This seems to be more apparent for those between the age of 12-13. The rationale behind this was said due to these teenagers trying to make up for all the frustrations that they face during that stage of their life. However, one of the researcher did mentioned that "...giving children positive signals from their peers can boost their self-esteem and lower levels of materialism. "

I do hope my baby will not grow up to be a materialistic child as not only can it put a big hole in our pockets, it would not teach him to appreciate things around him later in life too. Hmmm...do you think buying branded stuff for him will influence him to be materialistic in the future? Oh btw, here's the news in full.

November 30, 2007
MYT 3:00:44 AM

Child materialism linked to self-esteem - study By Kristina Cooke

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - How much children focus on having the latest gadgets and designer gear may have more to do with their self-esteem than peer pressure, targeted marketing or bad parenting, researchers said.

In two studies reported in the Journal of Consumer Research, they found that materialism spikes in early adolescence and declines by the end of high school, mirroring the years children are most prone to teen angst.

Between the ages of 12 and 13 children try to compensate for low self-esteem through material goods that they think will make themselves feel better, or that they think will raise their status among their peers.

"While peers and marketing can certainly influence teens, materialism is directly connected to self-esteem," said Professor Deborah Roedder John of the University of Minnesota.

"As parents, if we understand that, it helps us cope with the frustrating experience of having a 12, 13 or 14 year-old who is always asking us to buy them expensive clothes, and expensive computer equipment," she added in a media interview.

John and co-researcher Lan Nguyen Chaplin also showed that giving children positive signals from their peers can boost their self-esteem and lower levels of materialism.

They brought the children together in a summer camp setting and asked them to write down positive adjectives about their peers, such as "smart" or "fun". When the 12 and 13 year-olds read the pleasing descriptions of themselves, it drastically reduced the high levels of materialism.

John and Chaplin measured self-esteem by asking the children to rank to what extent they felt phrases such as "I feel good about myself", or "I'm just as good as anyone else" applied to them.

To find out how materialistic a child was, the researchers asked them to make up a collage to answer the question "What makes me happy."

The children that chose more material goods such as money or brand names over sentiments such as being with friends or no homework were seen as having higher levels of materialism.

Copyright © 2007 Reuters