Do People Become More or Less Materialistic during Disasters? The Mediating Roles of Mortality Salience and Gratitude.

Da Jiang,Liman Man Wai Li,Shuang Liu,John Chi-Kin Lee

doi:10.3390/ijerph18168566

Abstract

Studies have yielded inconclusive findings regarding the relationship between disaster experience and materialism. Whereas some have found a positive relationship, others have reported a negative relationship. To clarify the mechanisms underlying these mixed findings, we proposed and examined two mechanisms, namely mortality salience and gratitude. A total of 214 participants (Mage = 42.05 years, SD = 16.49 years) were randomly assigned into either an experimental condition to experience a disaster or a control condition. Participants in the experimental condition reported a lower level of materialism than the scores of their counterparts in the control condition. Such effects were mediated by both mortality salience and gratitude. Participants in the experimental condition reported higher levels of both mortality salience and gratitude simultaneously. Mortality salience strengthened materialism, but gratitude weakened materialism. These findings highlighted the duel-existing mechanisms underlying the relationship between disaster experience and materialism.

Highlights

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2017) defines a disaster as a sudden, calamitous event with three main features: (1) it interrupts the normal functioning of a community or a society; (2) it causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses; and (3) its impacts exceed the community’s or society’s coping capacity by using its own resources
We argue that the inconsistent relationship found between disasters and materialism is attributable to the fact that disaster experience may induce dual psychological systems, namely mortality salience and gratitude
We examined the effect of disasters on materialism and how this relationship is mediated by mortality salience and gratitude

Summary

Introduction

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2017) defines a disaster as a sudden, calamitous event with three main features: (1) it interrupts the normal functioning of a community or a society; (2) it causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses; and (3) its impacts exceed the community’s or society’s coping capacity by using its own resources. According to this definition, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) can be categorized as a disaster [1]. Some studies have found that disasters increase individuals’ perceived greater importance on worldly possessions (i.e., a higher level of materialism) [4], while other studies have found that individuals

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