What are Hong Kong Chinese parents' perceptions of materialism and egocentrism in their children?

Abstract

Although there are studies on adolescent materialism and egocentrism, most of them are Western studies based on the perspective of adolescents. As parents are significant-others of adolescents, we investigated the perceptions of parents of materialism and egocentrism in their adolescent children as well as Hong Kong adolescents. Response frequency profiles generated from descriptive statistical analyses revealed that some parents perceived their children and adolescents in Hong Kong showing materialistic and egocentric concerns. However, consistent with the selfenhancement perspective, parents perceived their children to be less materialistic and egocentric than did Hong Kong adolescents in general. Several correlates of parents' perceptions of materialism and/or egocentrism in their children and adolescents in Hong Kong, including age, gender, and parental education, were identified in the current study.