• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.373-392
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• 2022

The present study aimed to emprically verify the materialistic pursuits process of undergraduates by applying the escape theory of materialism(Donnelly et al., 2016). Among the six steps of Donnelly's model, the first step is percieving that the fall short of high standards of life, as measured by external contingencies of self-worth. The second step is blaming the self for falling short of standards, as measured by self-discrepancy. The third step of high aversive self-awareness is measured by low stability of self-esteem. A total of 465(203 male and 262 female) college students participated in the online survey and the model was tested using structural equation model. We found that the relationship of external contingencies of self-worth and materialism was mediated by self-discrepancy and there was a sequential mediation effect of self-discrepancy and the stability of self-esteem. The direct effect of external contingencies of self-worth on materialism was also significant. This study is meaningful in that it used the escape theory to emprically verify the materialistic pursuit process of Korean undergraduates living in a meritocratic society.