Exploring the Relationship Between Loneliness, Materialism, and Life Satisfaction in a Western Context: the Moderating Role of Gender

Abstract

Both loneliness and materialism have been associated with decrement in one’s life satisfaction. However, the relationship between loneliness, materialism, and life satisfaction has not been explored in the Western context. Therefore, the present study addresses two issues: (1) the relationship between loneliness and life satisfaction taking into account the mediating role of materialism and (2) the moderating role of gender in the aforementioned mediation model. A research model was proposed. To test the proposed model, data were collected via an online survey administered to U.S. nationals convenience sample (N = 312). Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model. Loneliness was negatively related to life satisfaction and positively related to materialism. Contrary to the expectation, materialism was positively related to life satisfaction. Materialism mediated the relationship between loneliness and life satisfaction. Gender did not moderate the relationship between loneliness and materialism, whereas gender did moderate the relationship between materialism and life satisfaction.

Keywords

• loneliness
• materialism
• life-satisfaction
• gender