MATERIALISM: WAY OF COPING WITH STRESS BY ADOLESCENTS

A Research Paper Presented to The Language and Humanities Department College City

In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the course in Technical Writing (EN101)

March 17, 2011

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The researcher would like to acknowledge the following for their help and support in the course of the research: To College, for giving me the opportunities to learn about making a research study. Also for allowing me to use the resources and facilities utilized by the researcher. To my teacher, Ms. Apple, for teaching me the necessary lessons needed in making a research study and for guiding by giving comments and suggestions that helped in improving this research. To my block mates, who helped the me finish this research by giving their remarks and ideas. To my beloved parents, for the financial and moral support they have willingly extended. Last but not the least, our Creator for providing me with knowledge and strength for me to be able to accomplish this research

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................. ii CHAPTER 1: THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND .......................................... 1-4 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................ 2 Significance of the Study.............................................................................................. 3 Definition of Terms ....................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES ........................ 5-8 Related Literature ........................................................................................................ 5 Related Studies ............................................................................................................ 7 Synthesis ..................................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 3: PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA .......................................................................... 9-14 CHAPTER 4: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION ..................................................................................... 15-18 Summary.................................................................................................................... 15 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 16 Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 17 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 19 APPENDIX .................................................................................................................... 20 CURRICULUM VITAE ............................................................................................. 21-22

CHAPTER 1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND Introduction In the world today, materialism has been one of the most complex and mysterious notions in ones behavior. It has a variety of negative traits and orientations which includes possessiveness, self-centeredness, greed, and general life

dissatisfaction (Belk 1985). Materialism appears to be at least partially responsible for modern-day social problems. One of these modern day social problems is stress. The researcher conducted the study about materialism as a way of coping with stress by adolescents. One of the central issues surrounding materialism is its supposed effects on both the individual and society. The main perspective appears to largely view materialism as an inescapable and undesirable aspect of ours. The study shows that children and young adults may develop an enhanced level of materialism as a way of coping with stresses. In this sense, materialism may play an influential role for these affected individuals, specifically helping to restore a sense of stability, permanence, and identity in their lives. The knowledge yielded by this work is to be used to examine and prove this possibility.

Statement of the Problem The main inquiry of the study is to solve the problem on materialism being used as a coping mechanism for stress. Specifically, it sought answers to the following questions: 1. Will materialism help cope with stress in a positive way? 2. What could be the possible effects of using materialism for coping with stress instead of other factors? 3. Will this affect our relations with the people we interact with in our daily lives?

Significance of the Study The outcomes of the findings in this study are beneficial to the following: 1. Personality to identify the factors that may change the character of a person for the betterment of ones being. 2. Psychologically to enhance our way of expressing ourselves 3. Human Relations to increase our consciousness of the relations we will encounter in our daily lives 4. Society to improve our understanding of the people in the community

Definition of Terms a. Materialism opinion that nothing exists but matter and its movements and modifications and that consciousness and will are wholly due to material agency. It is also known as the tendency to lay stress on material aspect of objects; desire for material rather than spiritual prosperity etc. b. Stress pressure of load, weight, some adverse force or influence etc; condition of things demanding or marked by strained effort. c. Cope contented in well-matched struggle with; grapple successfully; deal competently with d. Mechanism framework, structure, technique; system of mutually adapted parts working together. e. Adolescents - a person between childhood and maturity; between the ages roughly of 14 to 20

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES Related Literature Kasser wrote a book entitled The High Price of Materalism. In Chapter 2: Personal WellBeing it is stated: The first measure of well-being assessed self-actualization, a concept made popular by the father of humanistic psychology, Abraham Maslow. Maslow conceived of self-actulization as the pinnacle of psychological health, the state attained by people motivated by growth, meaning and aesthetics, rather than by insecurity and the attempt to fit in with what other people expect. People who score high on this measure of selfactualization generally agree with statements such as, It is better to be yourself than to be popular and I do not feel ashamed of any of my emotions Our second measure of well being, vitality, also assesses psychological growth and the energy the goes along with authentically expressing who one really is. Vital people are likely to feel energized, alert, and overflowing with that wonderful feeling of being alive The last two measures assessed two of the most common psychological disorder: depression and anxiety. The depression questionnaire asked participants how frequently they had experienced common depressive symptoms such as felling down, feeling lonely or disconnected from others, having sleep or appetite troubles, and having little energy or difficulty concentrating. The anxiety measure asked how much they generally experienced nervousness or shakiness inside, felt tense or fearful, or was suddenly scared for no reason.
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When we used statistical analyses to examine how peoples value orientations related to their well-being, the results were intriguing. Compared with students who were more oriented toward self-acceptance, affiliation, or community feeling, those who considered financial success a relatively central value reported significantly lower levels of self actualization and vitality as well as significantly higher levels of depression and anxiety. Notably, such a strong focus was associated with decreased psychological well-being regardless of whether participants were men or women As in our studies of college students, materialistic values were equally unhealthy for men and women. Because of the nature of this sample, we could examine whether findings depended on age or income. Analyses showed that regardless of their age or wealth, people with highly central materialistic values also reported lower well-being. Having documented some of the problems associated with materialism in adults of different ages and backgrounds, we returned to the college students and teenagers to explore further the many different ways that these values are associated with low well-being. As before, people who highly focused on materialistic values reported less selfactualization and vitality and more depression. The more materialistic values are at the center of our lives, the more quality of life is diminished

Related Studies Burroughs & Rindfleisch (1997), conducted a study on materialism as a coping mechanism as an inquiry into family disruption. In their abstract it said: Materialism is a popular and important topic in consumer research, with the majority of researchers appearing to focus on the dark-side aspects of this issue. This study, in contrast, posits that in certain instances materialism may play a functional role as a coping mechanism during difficult life transitions. In specific, we suggest that material objects may assist children in reducing the stress associated with parental separation or divorce. To examine this hypothesis, we conducted two empirical studies (one quantitative, one qualitative). The results of these studies suggest that materialism moderates the relationship between family disruption and family stress by helping to restore important factors in these childrens lives. In addition to furthering a broadened conceptualization of materialism by highlighting its instrumental qualities, this paper also contributes to a deeper understanding of the interplay between family structure and consumption.

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Synthesis The studies represented in this chapter justifies that materialism is a way of coping with stress but has negative outputs. According to Kasser (2002), problems associated with materialism causes a person to have less self-acualization, less vitality and more depression regardless of their age and life style. According to Burroughs & Rindfleisch (1997), materialism in some way may help or play a functional role as a coping mechanism especially in times of difficulties. It is also said that materials help children and young adults reduce stress but leads to other psychological problems.

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CHAPTER 3 PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA The researcher conducted a survey to be able to know the thoughts of the respondents (Adolescents: 14 - 20 years old) for the researcher to analysis and interpret the data that was collected.

TOTAL RESPONDENTS: 50 Adolescents between the ages of 14 - 20 years old

Based on the results, the researcher learned that most of the people say that they buy materials as a reward. They may believe that buying expensive materials as a prize is better than the psychological prize like feeling happy, contented, fulfilled, etc.

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Based on the results, the researcher learned that most of the people say that they do not buy material items when they feel down but there is still 42.9 % who buy materials to make them feel better when they are depressed. They feel that material things make them feel better and give them comfort when they are depressed.

Based on the results, the researcher learned that most of the people say material things help them relax and release tension. They believe material items make them calm down like maybe when they listen to music with your iPods, when they watch your favorite movie in your computer, or when they text and call their friends using their cell phones.

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Based on the results, the researcher learned that most of the people say that material things do not make them feel respected and highly regarded by others but still 36.0 % say that material things do so. The people who said that material things make them feel respected may have an upbringing that taught them to be material-minded.

Based on the results, the researcher learned that majority of the people believe that material items do not make them feel they have a high social status but it was a close fight with the people who believe that material items do make them feel they have a high social status. These people may have that connotation the richer you are the more people will look highly on you.

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Based on the results, the researcher learned that majority of the people said that they cannot live without material items like cell phones, computer, iPods, etc. They are attached with these items because it gives them safety, comfort and security.

Based on the results, the researcher learned that the respondents were equally divided. Half of them said they do not show off their materials items to others while the other half did. For those who showed off their things, they believe that people will praise them for the things they have in hand and that it will show to others that you must be highly looked upon.

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Based on the results, the researcher learned that majority of the people are willing to share their valued material items. This show that people are still not completely taken over by the material things they have. They still know that being materialistic is not so good.

Based on the results, the researcher learned that majority of the people are happy and contented with what they have. This show that people do not madly look for more material items to make them feel secure and better. They still have a sense of psychological correctness.

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Based on the results, the researcher learned that majority of the people seek for more material items. This shows that people want to attain material items to feel fulfilled in life. This is said to be one of the ways on how a person may show his achievements in ones life.

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CHAPTER 4 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION Summary Based on the Related Literatures & Studies and the conducted survey, materialism are used as a prize for a person may believe that it is better than the psychological prize like feeling happy, contented, fulfilled. It is also used to make them feel happy when they are depressed and in tension. They tend to look for happiness in the material things and do not seek for happiness with the people around them. Materialism also allows a person to feel respected and makes them feel that they have a high status in the society and tend to not attain this through ones actions. Some say that they are contented with the material things they have which shows they still have a sense of psychological correctness but they also stated that they seek for more material items for it is said that it is one of the ways on how a person may show his achievements. When a person values materialism the quality of their life is greatly affected. The more people have materialistic principles in their lives, the more their quality of life is reduced. These materialistic principles are related to low self- actualization and welfare. This causes a person to develop a more antisocial behavior and becomes selfish.

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Conclusions People who are highly focused on materialistic values have lower personal wellbeing and psychological health than those who believe that materialistic searches are relatively unimportant. Strong materialistic values are associated with a persistent discouragement of peoples well-being, from low life satisfaction and happiness, to depression and anxiety, to physical problems such as headaches, and to personality disorders, narcissism and antisocial behavior. Materialism promotes many negative feelings as well like selfishness, jealousy, sense of hopelessness, etc. People are forgetting their moral values and often fail to understand the distinction between right choices and the wrong ones. The only thing that matters is good quality life and false comforts. They think that everything around them is dictated by need of humans and is being provided by the environment. All their beliefs are based on scientific inference only. The worst of all they have lost faith in God as they refuse to believe in anything that we cannot see or hear or touch. As a result, they remain unashamed after committing sin. Thus, materialism has unfavorably affected the entire structure of our society.

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Recommendations After studying the various collected data, the researcher has verified that materialism is a way for coping with stress by adolescents but creates negative factors to a persons well-being and personality. To the study sponsors / supporters, there is still a way to prevent materialism to be a coping mechanism to stress. Each individual has to make some changes in their outlook. We have to separate ourselves from material world. This will make us happy both with and without the material things that we desire. We have to put in our mind that if we get that thing its good but if we do not get that it will be fine. It is not easy for us to get this kind of mental set up but it is not an impossible task too. All the tangible things of the world that we acquire may go some day but still the strength within us to survive in tough conditions will still be with us until our time comes. We must be happy that we have not lost ourselves and the support of our family. These things matter more than any other material things of life. We have to give top priority to hard work and not to any shortcut route to achieve success. There is a sense of truth and honesty associated with hard work which can give us immense satisfaction. We have to increase our knowledge of reality that is non-physical. Lack of knowledge of the non-physical aspects of our life is a major cause of downfall not only of an individual but collectively as a society. Spirituality helps us to know our real identity. If we lose our wealth it can be replaced but if we lose our own self then we cannot replace that. The actual solution of the problems can be obtained through self-contemplation. We can identify what has caused us to face this kind of problem today. Set yourself free

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from the material world; recognize the real self that lies within you. In this way you can prevent the influence of materialism in society from blocking your inner growth.

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REFERENCES Belk, R. (1985). Materialism: trait aspects of living in a material world. Journal of Consumer Research, 12 (December). pages 265-280.

Bryant, L.; Srnicek, N.; and Harman, G. (Eds.). (2001). The speculative turn: continental materialism and realism. Melbourne; Re Press

Burroughs, J.; Rindfleisch, R. (1997). Materialism as a coping mechanism as an inquiry into family disruption. Advances in Consumer Research Volume 24. Association for Consumer Research. pages 89-97.

Carr, C. T., et al. (Eds.). (1979). The readers digest great encyclopaedic dictionary. (3rd Editon, 2 Volumes). London: Oxford University Press.

Kasser, T. (2002). The high price of materialism. USA; Archon Graphics Services Incorporation.

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APPENDIX Survey on Materialism: Way of Coping with Stress by Adolescents

URL: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/K253T5P
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CURRICULUM VITAE

Your Contact Information Name: Address: Telephone: Cell Phone: Email: Personal Information Date of Birth: Place of Birth: Citizenship: Gender: Education Grade School: High School: College: Awards: Interests:

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