Dittmar, Helga (2005) Compulsive buying behaviour – a growing concern? An empirical exploration of the role of gender, age, and materialism. British Journal of Psychology, 96 (4). pp. 467-491. ISSN 0007-1269

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Compulsive buying is an understudied, but growing, dysfunctional consumer behaviour with harmful psychological and financial consequences. Clinical perspectives treat it as a psychiatric disorder, whereas recent proposals emphasize the increasing endorsement of materialistic values as a cause of uncontrolled buying (e.g. Dittmar, 2004b; Kasser & Kanner, 2004). The present research aims to improve understanding of compulsive buying through examining gender, age, and endorsement of materialistic values as key predictors in three UK questionnaire studies, which sampled individuals who had contacted a self-help organization and residentially matched ‘controls’ (N=330), consumer panelists from a multinational corporation (N=250), and 16- to 18-year-old adolescents (N=195). The results confirmed previously documented gender differences, and showed that younger people are more prone to compulsive buying. The central findings were that materialistic value endorsement emerged as the strongest predictor of individuals' compulsive buying, and that it significantly mediated the observed age differences.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Psychology > Psychology
Depositing User:	Helga Dittmar
Date Deposited:	06 Feb 2017 07:55
Last Modified:	06 Feb 2017 07:55
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/66582

📧 Request an update