Materialism, defensive and assertive self-presentational tactics, and life satisfaction

To learn how materialism is related to defensive and assertive self-presentational tactics, and how such tactics might mediate the established link between materialism and life satisfaction, 277 undergraduates completed a battery of questionnaires. We expected that materialism would be positively related to the use of defensive self-presentational tactics, and that defensive self-presentational tactics, in turn, would mediate the relationship between materialism and life satisfaction. Zero-order correlations generally supported these expectations. Moreover, results of structural equation modeling suggested that it was primarily the defensive self-presentational tactic of self-handicapping that mediated the relationship between materialism and life satisfaction. We discuss our findings with respect to the protective penchant of materialistic individuals.