Object attachment, transitory attachment, and materialism in childhood.

Children attach to objects for many reasons. Early research on object attachment focused primarily on infants and toddlers and their attachment to soft objects as a source of security, but this review reveals that children of all ages attach to a variety of objects and with a variety of motivations. This review also introduces the concept of transitory object attachments, in which children quickly attach to an object but un-attach almost as quickly. Repeated transitory object attachments are manifest as materialism. After a discussion of motivations for object attachment generally, the review focuses on the insecurities of childhood that can foster transitory object attachments and materialism in children.