Do Demographics Matter in Childhood Attitudes on Materialism? Understanding South African Tween Consumers

Abstract

Purpose: This study examined materialism among South African tweens. The goal of the study was to determine whether demographic differences such as age, gender, and socioeconomic status have a bearing on children’s attitudes to materialism. Theoretical Framework: Scholarly interest into childhood materialism has been concerned with how materialism develops, how it is sustained and the effects of materialism. The current study hypothesises that age, gender and socioeconomic class have an influence on children’s attitudes on material happiness, material success, and material centrality as first- order constructs for materialism, and consequently, how they have an influence on materialism. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted a quantitative methodology, with a self-administered questionnaire as the data collection instrument. An adapted 9-item Material Values Scale for children (MVS-c) was used to measure material centrality, material happiness and material success as first-order factors for materialism. Data were collected from a sample of 192 school children aged 10 to 14. Structural equation modelling was used to validate the scale while the independent samples t-test and ANOVA were used to assess the demographic differences. Findings: The results revealed that there are gender differences in tweens’ attitudes towards materialism but no age and socioeconomic differences. The results also revealed that demographic differences exist regarding some of the materialism factors but not others. The study overall found that demographics have a limited influence on children’s attitudes regarding materialism. Research, Practical & Social implications: The study offers a glimpse into the minds of South African tweens regarding their materialistic values. The paper enriches the literature on childhood materialism by bringing perspectives from cultures other than the West, which has dominated much of the knowledge on child consumers. Originality/value: Materialism in children has been examined in various social science disciplines from a variety of perspectives. However, much of the studies have been on Western child consumers, largely ignoring African children. This is despite the fact that the African consumer market has grown steadily over the years. This study contributes to the conceptualisation of childhood materialism in an African context.