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From Natural Life Magazine, March/April
2008 One of the central premises of marketing is that buying things will make us happy. There is a growing body of evidence, however, that the opposite is true, that the pressure to overspend and over-consume actually makes people less happy. And when the pressure to become materialistic affects children, the results are worse. A study of materialistic values among children by psychology professor Tim Kasser found that materialistic children are less happy, have lower self-esteem and report more symptoms of anxiety and less generosity. The study also found that more materialistic children report engaging in fewer positive environmental behaviors such as reusing paper and using less water while showering. Another study, reported by sociology professor and author Juliet Schor, found that for children, “High consumer involvement is a significant cause of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and psychosomatic complaints. Psychologically healthy children will be made worse off if they become more enmeshed in the culture of getting and spending. Children with emotional problems will be helped if they disengage from the worlds that corporations are constructing for them.” Other researchers have suggested that marketing is a factor in the childhood obesity epidemic and encourages eating disorders, precocious sexuality, youth violence and family stress. Unfortunately, marketing to children is big business, worth billions of dollars a year. And it’s growing. According to the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC)... To read the rest of this article, subscribe to Natural Life's digital edition, which includes access to this and other back issues. Author Wendy Priesnitz is the Editor of Natural Life Magazine and a journalist with 30 years of experience. She has also authored nine books. Read her blog. |
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