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Aesthetic Pleasure as a Motive for Materialism and its Relationship to Wellbeing
Angelica Virzi, Andrea Bellovary, and Kimberly Quinn
Materialism, or people’s desire to acquire and possess material things (Górnik-Durose & Pyszkowska, 2020), has historically been associated with lower wellbeing (Nickerson et al, 2003). However, the negative relationship between materialism and wellbeing may depend on how researchers measure materialism. The often-used Materialism Values Scale (Richins & Dawson, 1992) assesses three forms of materialism—status signaling, happiness, and identity centrality—but it seems plausible that other forms of materialism might exist, with different relationships to wellbeing. Previous neuroaesthetics research suggests that aesthetic experiences, specifically viewing art, are beneficial to wellbeing (Daykin et al., 2008; Todd et al., 2017; Thomson et al., 2018); we predicted that aesthetic materialism will also correlate positively with wellbeing. We conducted a correlational study consisting of an adapted version of the MVS to include MVS materialism scale, our new aesthetic materialism subscale, several wellbeing measures (e.g., life satisfaction, happiness, meaning in life, and gratitude), and orientation towards aesthetics. We conducted bivariate correlation and regression analyses to determine underlying relationships between the materialism subscales and the wellbeing measures. Our results indicated that materialism as happiness correlated negatively with presence of meaning in life and satisfaction with life, and aesthetic materialism correlated positively with search for meaning and daily gratitude.
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How the COVID-19 Pandemic has Changed the Face of Substance Misuse Recovery: Comparing Virtual and In-Person Self-Help Groups
Daniel Wilson, Ted J. Bobak, and Leonard A. Jason
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has globally disrupted the lives of everyone, drastically and dramatically; the consequences of which will persist long after the virus has been contained. This disruption is especially true for marginalized populations, such as those seeking recovery from substance use disorder (SUD). With the onset of COVID-19, as stay-at-home orders and quarantine restrictions are affecting the way people interact, the SUD recovery community has been forced to adapt. The purpose of this research is to explore some of the ways in which recovery outcomes have been established and how those behaviors might find translatable success in an online format. The research team is interested in finding out how effective virtual meetings are compared to in-person meetings, identifying aspects of virtual meetings that are more conducive to positive recovery outcomes, and how to improve the quality of virtual meetings in areas where in-person meetings outperform. Our research will explore how these behaviors can successfully be translated to the virtual format, in order that the tools of recovery can be democratized for the digital age.
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Above and Beyond Family Recovery Center
Victoria Zygmunt
The following poster presentation highlights Above and Beyond Family Recovery Center’s mission of serving individuals regardless of financial status and creating therapeutic alliances that cultivate recovery and personal growth and development, as well as services they provide to clients struggling with substance use disorders. Above and Beyond is an outpatient facility with different services provided to clients including individual therapy and many options of group therapy. The agency is mainly harm reduction-based, but clients are also welcome to choose an abstinence approach to guide them through their recovery instead. In addition to working on substance use disorders, Above and Beyond also provides services to help the betterment of client lives in general, through offering aid to find housing and employment, as well as GED classes. To apply, visit the Above and Beyond Family Recovery Center website at anb.today. Under the Get Involved tab, click Intern Program and fill out the intern application. Interested individuals may also contact the intern supervisor at btartt@anb.today.