The role of materialism in self-disclosure within close relationships

- Materialism was related to negative self-disclosure processes in dating relationships.
- Actor's disclosure level was negatively related to partner's materialism.
- Actor's responsiveness to partner's self-disclosure was negatively related to both actor's and partner's materialism.
- Actor's sex did not moderate the effects of materialism on disclosure level and responsiveness.

Research has reliably shown a negative association between materialism and relationship well-being. This study examined a possible link between materialism and self-disclosure exchange, a process that is central to relationship adjustment. To address this question, we recruited dating couples for a videotaped self-disclosure task. In each session, partners took turns to be a discloser or a listener. Participants' disclosure level (when they were disclosers) and responsiveness level (when they were listeners) were assessed by ratings from the participants, their partner, and trained coders. The results showed that actor's disclosure level was negatively associated with partner's materialism, whereas actor's responsiveness was negatively associated with actor's and partner's materialism. Materialism appears to be related to poor self-disclosure processes within close relationships.