Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
5-2015
Abstract
We developed new materials to induce a luxury mindset and activate materialistic values, and examined materialism’s relationship to attitudes toward marriage and having children in Singapore. Path analyses indicated that materialistic values led to more negative attitudes toward marriage, which led to more negative attitudes toward children, which in turn led to a decreased number of children desired. Results across two studies highlight, at the individual level, the tradeoff between materialistic values and attitudes toward marriage and procreation and suggest that a consideration of psychological variables such as materialistic values may allow for a better understanding of larger-scale socioeconomic issues including low fertility rates among developed countries. We discuss implications and describe how psychological factors relating to low fertility fit within evolutionary mismatch and life history theory frameworks.
Keywords
Children, Singapore, marriage, fertility
Discipline
Applied Behavior Analysis | Asian Studies | Family, Life Course, and Society | Social Psychology
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
PLoS ONE
Volume
10
Issue
5
First Page
e0126543-1
Last Page
12
ISSN
1932-6203
Identifier
10.1371/journal.pone.0126543
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Embargo Period
7-9-2015
Citation
LI, Norman P., LIM, Amy J. Y., TSAI, Ming-Hong, & O, Jiaqing.(2015). Too materialistic to get married and have children?. PLoS ONE, 10(5), e0126543-1-12.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1676
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126543
Included in
Applied Behavior Analysis Commons, Asian Studies Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Social Psychology Commons