Explicit and implicit materialism vs. self-esteem and readiness for self-improvement in young people

The aim of the paper is to present an analysis of the relationship between explicit and implicit materialism, self-esteem, and readiness for self-improvement in teenagers. We carried out two studies. In the first one, we examined what object and activity categories are linked to teenage happiness and how the category of happiness associated with possessing things is linked to materialistic teenage attitudes. The second study looked into the associations of implicit materialism with implicit materialism, self-esteem, and readiness for self-improvement. The obtained results showed that (a) five categories of teenage happiness can be distinguished: people and animals, interests, sport, achievements, material possessions and money; (b) as initially assumed, implicit materialism is positively linked to explicit materialism and negatively linked to both self-esteem (Study 2) and readiness for self-improvement (Studies 1 and 2). However, no significant relationship was observed between explicit materialism and self-esteem or readiness for self-improvement.