Don’t become obsessed with your possessions
▶ Researchers say materialism leads to lesser feelings of life satisfaction
Your luxurious UAE lifestyle could be bad for your well-being.
Researchers at Zayed University have found that those who assign high value to material possessions tend to experience lower levels of life satisfaction.
Their study of 235 adults concluded that the levels of materialism among expatriates and Emiratis were high on the Richins Materialism Scale, a global benchmark.
“None of the other reported studies reported means of materialism as high as we found in the UAE,” said Dr Damien Arthur, associate professor at the university’s College of Business and the study’s co-author. “It is pervasive here.”
Dr Arthur and his team found the mean value scores to be 3.06 among Emiratis and 2.86 among expats. That compares with 2.74 in Switzerland, 2.63 in Spain and 2.79 in Hungary.
The preliminary findings are part of a Dh500,000 three-year research project the university is funding to investigate sustainable consumer behaviour.
The project covers five topics: materialism in Dubai; luxurious Emirati weddings; compulsive buying behaviour; Emirati fashion and identity across generations; and the “made-it” culture.
The authors suggested programmes to educate the public about the importance of investment and savings, the dangers of predatory lenders and advertisers, and offering financial and media literacy classes for children.
“The UAE has evolved so rapidly over the past 50 years from an undeveloped nation to now, in pretty much every respect, a first world that is highly urbanised and highly commercialised,” Dr Arthur said.
“That is a remarkable achievement, but with that also comes a dark side. It is a real firstworld problem that we are materialistic here in the UAE.
“They have had to resolve creating first-class healthcare and public infrastructure, housing – all of the issues of a developing nation – and they succeeded. But now we have developed-nation problems.”
The growing materialism in the UAE is leading to “conspicuous consumption, an increasingly judgmental consumer society and the materialistic expression of traditional values is leading to lower levels of life satisfaction, and an increase in financial distress, delayed marriage and family conflict,” the researchers said.
One year into their study, called First World Problem: Materialism in the UAE, researchers have produced a 25-minute video documentary exploring the expense, pressure and consequences of luxurious Emirati weddings.
It features interviews with a mother of the groom, event planner, venue manager and wedding guest.
The video also reports the findings of a questionnaire issued to 44 Emirati brides and 50 mothers of the groom who hosted a wedding within the past three years.
It places the average cost of an Emirati wedding – including male and female wedding parties, engagement party, other related parties, zehba and mahr – at more than Dh683,000, most of which is paid by the groom’s family.
The financial pressure of Emirati weddings was among the issues raised by those interviewed by Dr Arthur and his team for the materialism and life satisfaction study.
One recently married Emirati man said he suffered financially because of loans he had to take out to help pay the costs.
“Guys don’t want to get married nowadays,” he said, noting the costs associated with his wedding and honeymoon cost nearly Dh1 million.
“It was really difficult, and these days people are spending more and more money. The situation is getting scary. You don’t have to be scared about the commitment part, the bills will do all the stress.”
Another man said he would “rather get a sports car of my choice than pay the same amount for marriage”. A third said his family wanted him to marry and have children, but the increasing dowry was making it “too difficult for me”.
The researchers said that the high costs associated with marriage was “not the major cause of delayed marriage in the UAE”, but it was a contributing factor.
The study suggests that the Government should approach “materialism like other social problems, such as smoking and speeding”.
The UAE has not featured prominently on other materialism surveys, but countries that have experienced rapid growth, rising living standards and wealth have.
In a survey of 20 countries by Ipsos, China was placed top of the list, with 71 per cent of people agreeing that “I measure my success by the things I own”, followed by India.
Dr Claire Sherman, assistant professor of the university’s College of Communications and Media Sciences, and co-author of the research paper, said the rise of materialism should be curbed through education and public awareness campaigns.
“It’s an issue that needs to be considered,” said Dr Sherman. “It’s real and there are some real consequences. It’s unsustainable.”