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Daddy, Mommy, and Money: The Association Between Parental Materialism on Parent–Child Relationship Quality

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Abstract

This study examined the longitudinal relationships among materialism, parent–child relationship quality, and psychological control for fathers and mothers. Data came from 254 heterosexual couples participating in the Flourishing Families Project, a 10-year longitudinal study of inner family life. We found that the association of parents’ materialism at T1 and parent–child relationship at T2 differed by gender. In harmony with our hypothesis, fathers’ materialism at T1 significantly predicted a decrease in father–child relationship quality at T2. Contrary to our hypothesis, mothers’ materialism at T1 was not significantly associated with mother–child relationship quality at T2. Parental psychological control was negatively related to both father–child and motherchild relationship quality but did not serve as a moderator in the relationship between materialism and parent–child relationships. That materialism appears to be detrimental to father–child relationship quality but not detract from mother–child relationship quality is thought provoking. We propose several possible explanations for these disparate findings, including a possible link between materialism and empowerment for women (but not men), and that materialism for women (but not men) may be associated with goods purchased for the benefit of the family rather than the individual. We provide suggestions for future research based on these findings.

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Funding

The data utilized in the current study was funding by donors and funding agencies including the School of Family Life Endowment (BYU), Family Studies Center Endowment (BYU), Marjorie Pay Hinckley Endowed Chair (BYU), Mary Lou Fulton Endowed Chair in the Social Sciences (BYU), Mentoring Environment Grant (BYU), LB and LW Smith and Family Foundation, Kreutzkamp Family Foundation, Brent and Cheri Andrus Family Trust, and James W. and Carolyn O. Ritchie Supporting Organization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

    David B. Allsop

  2. Brigham Young University, Provo, USA

    Chen-Yun Wang, Jeffrey P. Dew, Erin K. Holmes, E. Jeffrey Hill & Chelom E. Leavitt

Authors
  1. David B. Allsop
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  2. Chen-Yun Wang
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  3. Jeffrey P. Dew
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  4. Erin K. Holmes
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  5. E. Jeffrey Hill
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  6. Chelom E. Leavitt
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Correspondence to David B. Allsop.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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This is one of several papers published together in Journal of Family and Economic Issues on the “Special Issue on Couples, Families, and Finances”.

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Allsop, D.B., Wang, CY., Dew, J.P. et al. Daddy, Mommy, and Money: The Association Between Parental Materialism on Parent–Child Relationship Quality. J Fam Econ Iss 42, 325–334 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-020-09705-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-020-09705-9

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