Beauty and materiality: Subjective social class mediation of self-perceived physical attractiveness and materialism in Chinese college students

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between self-perceived physical attractiveness and materialism, and the mediating role of subjective social class in that relationship. Participants were 375 Chinese college students (female = 79%; sophomore = 29%; mean age = 21.99; SD = 2.75) who completed a series of questionnaires. Following hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrap analysis, results indicated self-perceived physical attractiveness positively predicted subjective social class and materialism. Subjective social class played a mediating role between self-perceived physical attractiveness and materialism. When self-perceived physical attractiveness is low, accompanied by a decrease in subjective social class, the level of materialism will tend to increase significantly; when self-perceived physical attractiveness is high, accompanied by a rise in subjective social class, the level of materialism will decrease significantly. These findings are explained by China’s “face” culture through which beauty is a symbolic capital for maintaining self-identity reputation and status, consistent with the views of the social capital and the functional theory of materialism. Accordingly, equitable college student cultivation and development services should support college students for healthy physical aesthetic standards and materialism values regardless of self-perceived physical attractiveness or social class.