Abstract
Drawing upon terror management theory, the present study aimed to examine how mortality salience influences youth materialism as well as to explore the mediating role of future orientation and the moderating role of awe in the focal relationship. Three sub-studies (N = 2568) were conducted to test our theoretically driven hypotheses. In a large representative Chinese sample (Study 1), a set of questionnaires were used to provide preliminary evidence for our moderated mediation model. A positive association was found between mortality salience and youth materialism via future orientation; this association was much weaker for youths higher in trait awe. In follow-up studies, two priming experiments were performed to further improve the robustness of our hypothesized model. Youths in the mortality salience condition reported lower future orientation and higher materialism than those in the control condition. Inductions of mortality salience increased materialism by decreasing future orientation and that this mediation was conditioned on the level of trait awe (Study 2) and priming awe (Study 3). The findings not only illuminate the role of future orientation in explaining why mortality salience makes youths more materialistic but also highlight the role of awe in buffering the link between mortality salience and youth materialism. Thus, this work offers a significant contribution to prevention and intervention programs that aim to protect youths from the negative impact of death-related information and to promote their positive development.