Validating the Material Values Scale for Children (MVS-c) for Use in Early Childhood

Abstract

This study aims to validate the Material Values Scale for children (MVS-c) by Opree et al. (Personality and Individual Differences, 51(8), 963-968, 2011) among children in early childhood. The MVS-c was originally developed to assess materialism among children between the ages of eight to eleven, and consists of three subscales measuring material centrality, material happiness, and material success. We administered the MVS-c to a sample of 120 elementary school children between the ages of six to eight. The MVS-c was presented orally in a structured interview and with the aid of visual response options. We examined the factorial structure, reliability, and construct validity of the full-length 18-item scale as well as the shorter 6-and 3-item versions. Analyses using structural equation modeling showed that its factorial structure (i.e., with material centrality, material happiness and material success as first-order factors and overall material values as a second order factor) holds for younger children. Though the 3-item MVS-c cannot be used among six-to eight-year-olds, the 18-item MVS-c and the shorter 6-item version proved to be both reliable and valid in this age group. Hence, the MVS-c can be used to assess young children's materialism, to examine differences in materialism across developmental phases, and to study developments in children's materialism over time.

The Construction and Preliminary Validation of a New Pictorial Materialism Test for 4–6-year-old Children

“…In previous studies, the results for gender differences in materialism were also mixed. Some studies showed that boys are more materialistic than girls (Kasser, 2005;John, 1999), while others showed that there are no gender differences (van der Meulen et al, 2018). In our study, we pointed out that gender differences in General Materialism scores in PMT were primarily due to gender differences in responses to questions about clothing.…”

Validating the Short Material Values Scale for Children for Use Across the Lifespan

“…The MVS-c and its short versions were developed for children between the ages of 8 and 12. Recently, research has also validated the use of the MVS-c and its shorter versions among children aged 6 and 7, for whom it can be used in individual structured interviews using pictorial answer categories (van der Meulen et al 2017). However, because the use of structured interviews is unadvisable for children aged 5 and below (Borgers et al 2000), it does not seem viable to validate the MVS-c in younger age groups.…”

The construction and preliminary validation of a new Pictorial Materialism Test for 4–6-year-old children

“…The use of brands to reinforce self-image indicates the early emergence of materialism in preschool children [ 4 ]. Furthermore, research by van der Meulen et al [ 8 ] suggests that children as young as 6 years old are able to understand the symbolic meaning of material possessions. Smith et al [ 9 ] have also shown that children as young as 5 years old have different spending and saving tendencies and can reliably express them.…”

“…The Material Values Scale for Children is a self-assessment questionnaire aimed at 8–11-year-old children. This instrument has also been adapted and validated for children aged 6–8 years old by van der Meulen and coworkers [ 8 ]. Because children at this age may have reading difficulties and be suggestible, the instruments developed for this age group are administered individually and the questions are read aloud by the experimenter.…”

“…This method was originally proposed for children between the ages of 8 and 18. It has also been used to examine materialism in younger children above 6 years of age [ 6 , 8 ]. Watkins et al [ 7 ] adapted this method to preschool children, taking into account for their cognitive abilities, and used it to study the impact of advertising on brand knowledge and materialism.…”