ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry
Sec. Child Mental Health and Interventions
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frcha.2025.1600599
The Price of Possessiveness: How parental materialism undermines child psychological wellbeing
Provisionally accepted
- Clemson University, Clemson, United States
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Materialism, a value system that places the pursuit of possessions at the core of happiness and life meaning, is a dominant cultural force in modern societies. While its associations with individual well-being are well-documented, its intergenerational implications remain understudied. This study conceptualizes materialism as a potential family stressor contributing to the intergenerational transmission of stress. An intergenerational crossover model of materialism was tested using data from 1,996 parent-child pairs in Zhengzhou, China. Results indicate that higher parental materialism is associated with stronger materialistic values in children, weaker family relationships, and more frequent parental comparisons, each of which is linked to greater psychological distress in youth. These patterns suggest that materialism may contribute to intergenerational patterns of vulnerability. The study highlights the cultural dimensions of mental health and provides a theoretical tool for further research on how materialism, as modernity's "default value", relates to health inequalities.
Keywords: Child, distress, materialism, Mental Health, Parenting, social comparison
Received: 31 Mar 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Miao Li, Clemson University, Clemson, United States
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