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Help for shopaholics: New test determines who's at risk for compulsive buying
September 16, 2008Shopaholics are the butt of many jokes, but obsessive or compulsive shopping can ruin lives.
Compulsive shopping can lead to financial problems, family conflicts, stress, depression, and loss of self-esteem. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, there may be more people engaged in compulsive buying than previously thought.
Authors Nancy M. Ridgway, Monika Kukar-Kinney (both University of Richmond), and Kent B. Monroe (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of Richmond) developed a new scale for measuring compulsive buying. The scale consists of just nine questions, and the authors believe it does a better job than previous measures of identifying the number of people who engage in compulsive shopping.
"The scale is designed to identify consumers who have a strong urge to buy, regularly spend a lot of money, and have difficulty resisting the impulse to buy," they explain. Previous measures depend in large part on the consequences of shopping, such as financial difficulties and family strain over money matters. But the authors explain that compulsive shoppers with higher incomes may experience fewer financial consequences yet still have compulsive tendencies.
In the course of three separate studies, the researchers found that compulsive buying was linked to materialism, reduced self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and stress. Compulsive shoppers had positive feelings associated with buying, and they also tended to hide purchases, return items, have more family arguments, and possessed more maxed-out credit cards. The researchers found that approximately 8.9 percent of the population they studied were compulsive shoppers, compared with 5 percent who were identified with the current clinical screener.
"Given the results of these studies, it is important for public policy officials to recognize that there may be a larger group of consumers suffering from problems resulting from compulsive buying than previously thought. Consumers need to be educated to recognize if compulsive buying is a problem in their lives so that they may seek help," the authors conclude.
University of Chicago Press Journals
"The scale is designed to identify consumers who have a strong urge to buy, regularly spend a lot of money, and have difficulty resisting the impulse to buy," they explain. Previous measures depend in large part on the consequences of shopping, such as financial difficulties and family strain over money matters. But the authors explain that compulsive shoppers with higher incomes may experience fewer financial consequences yet still have compulsive tendencies.
In the course of three separate studies, the researchers found that compulsive buying was linked to materialism, reduced self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and stress. Compulsive shoppers had positive feelings associated with buying, and they also tended to hide purchases, return items, have more family arguments, and possessed more maxed-out credit cards. The researchers found that approximately 8.9 percent of the population they studied were compulsive shoppers, compared with 5 percent who were identified with the current clinical screener.
"Given the results of these studies, it is important for public policy officials to recognize that there may be a larger group of consumers suffering from problems resulting from compulsive buying than previously thought. Consumers need to be educated to recognize if compulsive buying is a problem in their lives so that they may seek help," the authors conclude.
University of Chicago Press Journals
Don't flatter yourself: Why survey research can be flawed
We all do things to impress others-exaggerate our accomplishments, downplay our faults, even fib on surveys. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research sheds light on why we don't tell the strict truth about ourselves in surveys and what, if anything, can be done about it.
Study of drug therapy for compulsive buying yields a puzzle, Stanford researcher says
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine say they are puzzled by findings from their new study indicating that an antidepressant, which previously showed promise in treating a behavioral disorder known as compulsive buying, did not result in a sustained benefit for the patients who took it.
More Compulsive Buying Current Events and Compulsive Buying News Articles
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I Shop Therefore I Am: Compulsive Buying & the Search for Self by April Lane Benson (Author) "Compulsive buying is a serious, often secretive affliction, with profound emotional, social, occupational, and financial consequences. As many as a quarter of us have problems with buying, and studies suggest that between one and six percent of the population are full-fledged compulsive buyers. I Shop,Therefore I Am: Compulsive Buying and the Search for Self brings together, for the first time, the most important thinking about this disorder. As more and more therapists encounter compulsive buying (whether as a presenting problem or revealed in the course of ongoing therapy), the need for an in-depth clinical understanding of the disorder has grown. Dr. Benson has responded admirably to that need with a practical, comprehensive, and wonderfully readable work. A Jason Aronson Book" |
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Spent: Break the Buying Obsession and Discover Your True Worth by Sally Palaian (Author) Today, Americans are saving less, carrying larger debt loads, losing their homes to foreclosure, and filing bankruptcy in record numbers. People are spending more than they can afford, and many feel guilty, anxious, and overwhelmed as a result. Moving beyond the advice of financial planners who only treat the symptoms of overspending, in Spent Sally Palaian offers proven plans for taking on a range of personal issues with money by examining those underlying emotional, familial, and societal factors that trigger spending behaviors. Spent teaches readers to control shopping, pay off debt, develop budgets, and become financially competent through: Easy-to-use assessment tools designed to pinpoint the severity of a problem Questionnaires that facilitate the... |
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Cognitive behavioral therapy for compulsive buying disorder [An article from: Behaviour Research and Therapy] by J.E. Mitchell (Author), M. Burgard (Author), R. Faber (Author), R.D. Crosby (Author) This digital document is a journal article from Behaviour Research and Therapy, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Description: To our knowledge, no psychotherapy treatment studies for compulsive buying have been published. The authors conducted a pilot trial comparing the efficacy of a group cognitive behavioral intervention designed for the treatment of compulsive buying to a waiting list control. Twenty-eight subjects were assigned to receive active treatment and 11 to the waiting list control group. The results at the end of treatment showed significant advantages for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) over the waiting list... |
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Diagnostic screener for compulsive buying: applications to the USA and South Korea. (Bits, Briefs, and Applications).: An article from: Journal of Consumer Affairs by Hyokjin Kwak (Author), George M. Zinkhan (Author), Melvin R. Crask (Author) This digital document is an article from Journal of Consumer Affairs, published by American Council on Consumer Interests on June 22, 2003. The length of the article is 3991 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Citation Details Title: Diagnostic screener for compulsive buying: applications to the USA and South Korea. (Bits, Briefs, and Applications). Author: Hyokjin Kwak Publication: Journal of Consumer Affairs (Refereed) Date: June 22, 2003 Publisher: American Council on Consumer Interests Volume: 37 Issue: 1 Page: 161(9) Distributed by Thomson... | |
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Locos por consumir.(compras compulsivas como trastorno psicológico)(TT: Mad over buying.)(TA: compulsive buying as a psychological disorder)(Artículo Breve): An article from: Epoca by J. Ibáñez (Author), G. Plaza (Author) This digital document is an article from Epoca, published by Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA) on January 21, 2001. The length of the article is 857 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Citation Details Title: Locos por consumir.(compras compulsivas como trastorno psicológico)(TT: Mad over buying.)(TA: compulsive buying as a psychological disorder)(Artículo Breve) Author: J. Ibáñez Publication: Epoca (Magazine/Journal) Date: January 21, 2001 Publisher: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA) Page: 79 Article Type: Artículo... | |
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Compulsive buying among college students: an investigation of its antecedents, consequences, and implications for public policy.: An article from: Journal of Consumer Affairs by James A. Roberts (Author) This digital document is an article from Journal of Consumer Affairs, published by American Council on Consumer Interests on December 22, 1998. The length of the article is 8329 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. From the supplier: This study is an investigation of the incidence, antecedents, consequences, and public policy implications of compulsive buying among college students, a segment of the 44 million Americans born between 1965 and 1976, known as the Baby Bust generation. Previous research involving a broader range of adult consumers resulted in estimates of one to to six percent... | |
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Credit card misuse, money attitudes, and compulsive buying behaviors: a comparison of internal and external Locus Of Control (LOC) consumers.(Report): An article from: College Student Journal by Stevie Watson (Author) This digital document is an article from College Student Journal, published by Project Innovation (Alabama) on June 1, 2009. The length of the article is 3214 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Citation Details Title: Credit card misuse, money attitudes, and compulsive buying behaviors: a comparison of internal and external Locus Of Control (LOC) consumers.(Report) Author: Stevie Watson Publication: College Student Journal (Magazine/Journal) Date: June 1, 2009 Publisher: Project Innovation (Alabama) Volume: 43 Issue: 2 Page: S268(8) Article Type: Report Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage... | |
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The medicalization of compulsive buying [An article from: Social Science & Medicine] by S. Lee (Author), A. Mysyk (Author) This digital document is a journal article from Social Science & Medicine, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Description: Compulsive buying has recently been the subject of numerous articles from both consumer research and psychiatric perspectives. Identified by some researchers as a compulsion and by others as an addiction, common solutions to the problem have included drug treatments, participation in self-help groups and cognitive behaviour therapy. The purpose of this article is to examine critically the labelling of compulsive buying in terms of medicalization from the perspective of both medical and non-medical social... |
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I Shop, Therefore I Am: Compulsive Buying and the Search for Self by April Lane (Ed. ) Benson (Author) |
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