Materialism has some surprising and long reaching effects on one's life. One major effect, or in this case, effects, is stress, depression, and anxiety caused by debt. Materialistic people rack up huge amounts of debt. In fact, the average U. S. household has $132,158 of debt, according to a NerdWallet article. It is believed that ninety thousand of that is from material things, beyond “normal” or expected debt, which would mean a large majority of household debt is from materialistic purchases. This huge amount of debt can cause great amounts of stress, due mostly to the fact that barely have enough to pay the next month’s credit card payment, not to mention the mortgage on their quarter million dollar house or the payments for their luxury car. As Ronald Earl Goldsmith from Florida State University and Ronald A. Clark from Missouri State University explain, “Materialism can lead individuals to acquire burdensome debt in order to consume” (44). This huge amount of debt leads them to a stressful life, wondering if they will be able to pay the next month's enormous bills, caused by their lifestyle.
In coming articles, I will discuss other effects of materialism and ways of defeating materialism.
Works Cited
Issa, Erin El. “American Household Debt Statistics.” NerdWallet, 2016, www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-card-data/average-credit-card-debt-household/.
Goldsmith, Ronald Earl, and Ronald A. Clark. “Materialism, Status Consumption, and Consumer Independence.” The Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 152, no. 1, 2012, pp. 43–60. Academic Search Complete [EBSCO], doi:10.1080/00224545.2011.555434.
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