Abstract: Materialism refers to the extent to which one places importance on material wealth in defining success, self-conception, and happiness. As China’s economy has developed rapidly in recent years, the people’s living standards have improved, and this change provides a breeding ground for the rise of materialism. The values of materialism are becoming more prevalent among the Chinese people, especially among the young people. On the other hand, people began to pay more attention to their own well-being with social development and economic growth. So that nowadays the rise of materialism and the attention to well- being are becoming the concern of Chinese people. A large number of previous studies have found that materialism and well-being are negatively correlated and researchers have begun to explore the internal relations. They have found that many factors play the role of mediator between materialism and well-being. Their works help us to understand the mechanism and the impact of materialism on our well-being, teach us to improve our lives, life satisfaction and understand the characteristics of the human’s mental activities. In China, there are not many studies about materialism, and only a few studies about the relations between materialism and well-being. As for the studies of the internal relations, there are very few. This situation does not match the demand of the studies in China. Based on the researches of foreign and Chinese materialism, with the great differences in culture, lifestyle and individual values between Western countries and China, we can not make sure that the results of Western studies are appropriate for the people in China. So the studies of the relationship between materialism and well-being in Chinese population and Chinese culture are very necessary. In view of the foreign studies, we have found that gratitude may play the role of mediator between materialism and affect well-being. In order to obtain the early information about materialism and well-being in the Chinese population, this study will validate and further expand this research. We also want to investigate the mediating mechanism in the hope of contributing to correcting the national values and improving of national well-being. With a sample of 701 adolescents, this study examined the relationship between adolescents’ materialism and well-being via gratitude, using the Adolescents’ Gratitude Scale, the Material Values Scale, the Subjective Well-being Scale, the Revisited Psychological Well-being Scale, and the Physical Symptoms Questionnaire. The results indicated that: (1) Adolescents’ materialism was significantly positively associated with negative affect, and it was significantly negatively associated with positive affect, life satisfaction, psychological well-being, good health, and gratitude; Gratitude was significantly positively associated with positive affect, life satisfaction, psychological well-being and good health, and it was significantly negatively associated with negative affect. (2) Gratitude partially mediated the relationship between adolescents’ materialism and their negative affect, psychological well-being, life satisfaction, and good health. Gratitude completely mediated the relationship between adolescents’ materialism and their positive affect.

Key words: adolescent, materialism, well-being, gratitude

摘要： 采用物质主义量表、感恩问卷、主观幸福感量表、心理幸福感量表和身体症状问卷对701名中学生进行调查，考察了青少年物质主义与其幸福感的关系，以及感恩在其中的中介作用。结果发现：（1）青少年物质主义与其负性情感显著正相关，与正性情感、生活满意度、心理幸福感和身体健康显著负相关；（2）感恩在青少年物质主义与其生活满意度、负性情感、心理幸福感和身体健康关系之间起着部分中介作用，在青少年物质主义与其正性情感关系之间起着完全中介作用。

关键词: 青少年, 物质主义, 幸福感, 感恩