Concerned that your kids are becoming overly materialistic? Suspicious that their acquisitiveness has something to do with the steady stream of television commercials they see on a daily basis? Newly published research suggests your fears are well-grounded. A study of 8- to 11-year-olds from the Netherlands finds exposure to television advertising has “a positive causal effect on materialism.” Researchers led by Suzanna Opree of the University of Amsterdam identify an insidious equation: Ads exacerbate kids’ desire for material things, and this desire gradually leads them to equate ... Read More
