SOCIAL ANXIETY AND PEER PRESSURE AS PREDICTORS OF MATERIALISM AMONG ADOLESCENTS

The present study aimed to investigate social anxiety and peer pressure as predictors of materialism among adolescents. The sample for the current study consisted of 300 adolescents (150 males and 150 females) in the age group of 16-18 years of Chandigarh. The sample was administered a measure of Social Anxiety Scale (La Greca & Lopez, 1998) along with Peer Pressure Scale (Saini & Singh, 2010) and Youth Materialism Scale (Goldberg, Gorn, Peracchio, & Bamossy, 2003). Inter-correlation analysis, t-test, and simple linear regression analysis were applied. Results revealed that both social anxiety and peer pressure were positively related to materialism. Also, social anxiety and peer pressure were positively related to each other. It was found that social anxiety and peer pressure predict materialism in both male and female adolescents. Males were found to be high on social anxiety and materialism as compared to females. No significant gender differences were found on peer pressure.