Table 7.
Summary of empirical studies and findings.
Approach to Achieving Sustainable Well-Being | Problems with Existing Evidence | Current Examination | Relationship with Overall Materialism | Differential Relationships with Materialism Subcomponents |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sufficiency attitudes (Preference for sustainable lifestyle choices such that the individual consumes just enough to achieve optimal well-being) | No existing evidence | Study 1: 310 German adults complete sufficiency attitude scale [93] and MVS [65,97]. | Negative association (β = −0.59, p < 0.01) demographics controlled for | centrality (r = −0.57) = success (r = −0.59) > happiness (r = −0.45) |
Mindfulness (Deliberate focusing of attention on the present moment whereby mental states are observed rather than automatically reacted to) | Few studies, and have only focused on a single-faceted measure of mindfulness | Study 2: 493 adults from UK households, university and meditation groups complete MVS [65,97] and Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) [100]. | Negative association (β = −0.14, p < 0.05) demographics controlled forGreatest negative effects for non-judgemental and acting with awareness aspects of mindfulness | centrality (r = −0.12) = success (r = −0.11) = happiness (r = −0.17) |
Flow experiences (Dedication of all attention to an activity leading to feelings of total immersion, oneness with the activity, and lack of self-consciousness) | Few studies, and have only utilised measures of flow proneness that do not include all proposed characteristics of flow | Study 3: 2000 adults from UK nationally representative survey completed MVS [65,97] and Short Dispositional Flow Scale 2 (Short DFS2) [105]. | Negative association (β = −0.14, p < 0.01) demographics controlled for | success (r = −0.04) < centrality (r = −0.13) < happiness (r = −0.21) |