The impact of materialism, gratitude and psychological needs on life satisfaction

Life satisfaction is a component of subjective well-being. Findings suggest that materialism may adversely affect life satisfaction. Yet, there are few studies that explore strength-based factors as potential mediators. One such study ( Tsang et al., 2014 ) cross-sectionally explored gratitude and psychological needs as mediators for the materialism-life satisfaction relationship, with significant findings. The current study replicated and expanded upon said study by utilizing a longitudinal approach. Participants ( N = 117 after meeting exclusion criteria, namely having responded at both time points to measures of gratitude, materialism, balanced psychological needs, and life satisfaction) ranged in age from 18 to 26, with a majority identifying as female (75.5 %) and Hispanic or Latino (76.2 %), Bivariate regression analyses supported the existence of a negative association between materialism and life satisfaction. Parallel mediation analyses supported the hypothesis that gratitude and psychological needs satisfaction mediate the materialism-life satisfaction relationship. Serial mediation analyses supported the hypothesis that gratitude and life satisfaction sequentially mediate the materialism-life satisfaction relationship. Longitudinal analyses did not support the hypothesis that materialism predicted life satisfaction up to three months later, directly, or indirectly. Examining these relationships may have aided in increasing understanding regarding factors that are potentially associated with life satisfaction.