Materialism and affective well-being: the role of social support

To test the hypothesis that the established relationship between materialism and psychological well-being would be eliminated or significantly attenuated when controlling for social support, 159 American college students completed the Richins and Dawson (1992) materialism scale, the Cohen and Hoberman (1983) Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, and the Brief Measures of Positive and Negative Affect (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Two hierarchical multiple regressions found support for this hypothesis with respect to positive affect, but not with respect to negative affect. We discuss our results in relation to research on social support and to research that has explored reasons why materialism is related to lower levels of psychological well-being. Future research directions are also discussed.