A quantitative study on the relationship between consumption habits, frugality and spirituality in adolescent individuals

The values that belong to society and are intended to be instilled in individuals encompass fundamental moral principles that help individuals make sound decisions. The loss of some of these values - such as frugality - leads to selfish behavior. As a result of selfishness, a narcissistic human model emerges, one that constantly seeks pleasure and consumes. In this context, the focus of the research is to examine the relationship between frugality, spirituality, and consumption habits. The primary aim of the study is to reveal the direction and nature of the interaction between individuals' consumption habits - beginning with adolescents - and the moral value judgments of frugality and spirituality. The findings obtained are significant for evaluating individuals' attitudes and self-control during consumption within the framework of the psychology of religion, contributing both to this field and to the understanding of this issue among individuals.In the theoretical section of the research, the documentation method was employed, while in the implementation section, the survey method, a quantitative research design, was used with a questionnaire technique. The sample of the research consists of 443 students studying at four different secondary education institutions in Ankara during the 2023-2024 academic year. The data collection tools used in the study included the Personal Information Form, the Spirituality and Contentment Scale, and the Hedonic Consumption Scale. The data were analyzed using the SPSS (IBM SPSS for Windows, ver.26) statistical program. According to the findings of the study, adolescents' consumption habits are significantly and negatively associated with their levels of frugality and spirituality; ıt was concluded that individuals with lower levels of frugality and spiritual values tend to have higher levels of hedonic consumption habits. Moreover, the findings regarding socio-demographic variables indicated significant associations between the hedonic consumption habit scale score and gender, economic status, and school type; between the tendency toward spirituality and gender and school type; and between the level of frugality and school type. No significant associations were observed among the other demographic variables.