The Influence Of Adverse Childhood Experiences On Materialism

The high-speed iterative rhythm of the times accelerates the formation of materialism values,which are influenced by individual factors and environmental factors.This study started from adverse experience of childhood in the family environment to explore the factors of materialism values in adulthood and the influence mechanism of adverse experience on the formation of materialism values.This study aimed to explore the relationship among adverse childhood experiences,materialism,security,and contingent self-esteem and examine the mediating effect of security and contingent self-esteem on adverse childhood experiences and materialism.In this study,887 college students from three universities in Heilongjiang Province were investigated with Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale,Material Values Scale,Security Questionnaire,Competence based Self-Esteem Scale and Relation based Self-Esteem Scale.SPSS 26.0,Mplus 8.3 and Amos 23.0 were used to analyze data.The results showed that:(1)The incidence rate of adverse childhood experience among college students was40.0%.(2)There was a significant positive correlation between adverse childhood experiences,materialism,and contingent self-esteem;That is to say,the level of materialism and contingent self-esteem of individuals with adverse experience in childhood is higher in adulthood,while the level of contingent self-esteem of materialists is higher;Security was significantly negatively correlated with adverse childhood experiences,materialism,and contingent self-esteem.That is to say,individuals with adverse childhood experience had a lower level of sense of security,while their contingent self-esteem and materialism were at a high level.(3)Adverse childhood experiences can significantly predict materialism and significantly positively predict materialism,that is,the more adverse childhood experiences,the higher the level of materialism in adulthood.(4)Security mediated the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and materialism.The adverse experiences of individuals in childhood indirectly affect the level of materialism through the security.(5)Contingent self-esteem mediated the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and materialism.The adverse childhood experiences of individuals indirectly affect the level of materialism through contingent self-esteem.(6)Structural equation model showed that sense of security and contingent self-esteem played a chain mediating role in the influence of adverse childhood experience on materialism,that is,the influence of adverse childhood experience on materialism was achieved through the indirect path of " adverse childhood experience-security-contingent self-esteem-materialism".