Compulsive buying among young consumers in Eastern Europe: a two-study approach to scale adaptation and validation

Purpose Although much research focuses on the compulsive buying behavior theory, little attention has been paid to evaluation and diagnosis of compulsive buying in Eastern Europe. This is surprising, given an increasing prevalence of consumerism in many transitioning economies. Young consumers are particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to adapt the Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale to the Eastern European, specifically Polish cultural and language environment, and to validate it within a group of young Polish consumers, as well to assess the compulsive buying prevalence and the relationship between the compulsive buying and its precursors. Design/methodology/approach The Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale was selected for adaptation to the Polish context as it represents one of the best methodological and substantive compulsive buying measures in literature. The research is composed of two studies. Study 1 uses an in-person survey of young consumers (N = 504). A wide range of statistical procedures and latent variable modeling was used in the analysis. Study 2 (N = 756) uses an online survey to evaluate the correlation and relationship between the compulsive buying measure and its precursors, including consumers’ traits and states, by implementing a multiple indicators and multiple causes model. Findings The results of the two studies confirm that the adapted scale represents a valid and reliable measure of compulsive buying tendency in Poland, with the identified incidence rate of compulsive buying among Polish young consumers ranging from 11% in Study 1 to 11.6% in Study 2. In comparison with the results of other studies using the same measure, the current research findings reveal a similarity with the compulsive buying prevalence in China (10.4%; He et al., 2018), Brazil (9.8%; Leite et al., 2013) and slightly exceed the level found in western societies (e.g. 8.9% in the USA; Ridgway et al., 2008). The results of Study 2 indicate that compulsive buying in Poland is induced by low self-esteem and high levels of materialism, depression, anxiety, stress and negative feelings. Research limitations/implications The present research offers a methodological and substantive contribution by adapting and testing the original version of the Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale within an Eastern European transitional market; specifically Poland. In addition, the study offers an empirical contribution to the international research on compulsive behavior, including its precursors, as seen in young consumers. Practical implications This research offers important public policy implications and highlights ethical implications for business organizations. In particular, the findings of this study offer suggestions for enhancing policies and processes of programing appropriate social and educational campaigns that can save young consumers from the negative consequences of compulsive buying. Originality/value The transitional status of the Polish economy and other Eastern European countries has given rise to compulsive buying behavior, especially among young consumers. This emerging consumer behavior trend in Eastern Europe is still underexplored and underreported; hence, there exists a strong need for exploring and measuring such behavior across different Eastern European markets.

Examining the Clinical Correlates of Overeating and Binge-Eating Behaviors Among U. S. Veterans

ABSTRACT Introduction Pressure to meet U.S. military weight requirements during service may predispose some service members to develop psychiatric disorders such as eating disorders or unhealthy eating behaviors, which may persist after military discharge. Specifically, research examining U.S. military veterans has found that in weight management programs, veterans with binge-eating behaviors have shown poor treatment outcomes. Overall, previous research suggests that veterans experience considerable and persistent disordered eating problems, and in addition may experience a higher prevalence of disordered eating in comparison to the general U.S. population. Research on Post-9/11 Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND) veterans is needed as this group frequently presents with high rates of medical and psychiatric disorders. The current study used clinician-administered structured interviews to examine relationships between psychiatric, health, and demographic variables in a sample of Post-9/11 OEF/OIF/OND veterans with binge-eating or overeating behavior or neither. Materials and Methods This article presents secondary analyses of the baseline phase from data obtained for the Survey of the Experiences of Returning Veterans. Using structured phone interviews, we cross-sectionally examined patterns of medical comorbidities between sociodemographic, health, eating, and psychiatric variables in 846 recently deployed U.S. veterans with binge-eating behaviors (reporting both overeating and loss of control [LOC] eating), overeating behaviors (overeating without LOC), or healthy controls (absence of any disordered eating). Study procedures were approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Institutional Review Boards, and informed consent was obtained from the participants. A series of chi-square and analysis of variance tests revealed significant bivariate between-group differences in sociodemographic, health, eating, and psychiatric variables. Variables with significant group differences (P < .05) were entered into a multinomial logistic regression to examine relationships between psychiatric, health, and eating factors and binge-eating severity. Results Results of the multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that women relative to men were less likely to overeat. When comparing the binge-eating group and controls, higher body mass index was associated with higher odds of binge eating. Furthermore, for the overeating group in comparison to controls, fasting behavior was associated with higher odds of overeating. For the psychiatric variables, the binge-eating and overeating groups were associated with higher rates of compulsive buying when compared to healthy controls. Additionally, the overeating group was associated with higher rates of alcohol dependence. Lastly, binge-eating and overeating behaviors were positively associated with specific psychiatric and health comorbidities. Conclusions Further research is needed to inform the development of effective treatments for disordered eating problems, as evidenced by an anticipated increase of veterans entering the VA healthcare system and the high rate of binge eating observed in our study and prior research in Post-9/11 veterans. Moreover, our study findings suggest the relevance of screening veterans for compulsive buying. This study was limited by its relatively small sample which only examined disordered eating behaviors. Future studies could simultaneously explore binge-eating behaviors and binge-eating disorder diagnoses in larger samples. Study strengths include a diverse sample of Post-9/11 veterans with sizable female representation.

Potentially addictive behaviours increase during the first six months of the Covid-19 pandemic

Background and aims In this study we aimed to assess multiple potentially addictive behaviours simultaneously for an extended period of time during the Covid-19 pandemic and their relation to distress. Methods Data were collected every three days from Amazon’s MTurk between 26.03.2020 and 02.10.2020 in repeated cross-sectional samples of 25 participants resulting in a total sample of 1430 US adults (60% men, mean age 36.6 years, SD = 11). General distress and Covid-19 related fear were assessed as well as self-reported frequency of eight potentially addictive behaviours: shopping (compulsive buying), alcohol, smoking, legal substances, illegal substances, gambling, gaming and overeating. Results We found a positive relationship between time and the frequency of each self-reported potentially addictive behaviour ( = 0.15–0.23, all P < 0.001), and their frequency is linearly related to the intensity of (Covid-19-related and general) distress ( = 0.12–0.28, all P < 0.001). Most popular activities were gaming and compulsive buying, and the relative frequency of the behaviours remained about the same during the data collection period. Discussion It is possible that people seek other maladaptive substitutes when other coping mechanisms (e.g. social recreation) are hindered depending on their level of distress. Conclusion Given the evidence for the increasing frequency of potentially addictive behaviours and their relevance to distress, special attention needs to be paid to reduce potential harmful effects of maladaptive coping during and after this demanding period.

The Prevalence of Compulsive Buying and Hoarding Behaviours in Emerging, Early, and Middle Adulthood: Multicentre Epidemiological Analysis of Non-clinical Chinese Samples

Behavioural addictions, such as compulsive buying (CB) and hoarding, are increasingly recognised in the current psychiatric nosology, particularly in developed countries. The prevalence of these disorders may not be static but possibly altered across different age groups. However, studies on this area are rare, and only few have focused on Chinese population. This epidemiological study employs population-based cross-sectional design and collects data in two regions, i.e., Hong Kong and Mainland China. A self-reported questionnaire is constructed based on carefully validated Chinese versions of Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale and Hoarding Rating Scale. A total of 2,439 valid samples are collected and divided into three age groups, i.e., emerging, early and middle adulthood. CB and hoarding behaviours have displayed an inverted u-shaped pattern across the above age groups. In addition, the strength of correlation between the two compulsive behaviours is consistent and maintained across different age groups. These results suggest that the compulsive behaviours vary among different stages of adulthood in major cities in China. This newly discovered pattern of compulsive disorders in Chinese population is different from those in American and European populations.

Personal Projects’ Appraisals and Compulsive Buying among University Students: Evidence from Galicia, Spain

The appraisal of goal-related constructs, generally, and of personal projects (PP) in particular, is one of the most solid research paths with regard to subjective well-being and health. In the last few years, the appraisal of PP has been linked to such problems as excessive alcohol and marijuana use, but no study has been conducted in the field of compulsive buying (CB). In this study, using Little’s personal-projects-analysis (PPA) methodology, the differences in university students were analyzed in both broad domains (meaning, structure, community, efficacy, and stress) and specific appraisal dimensions in groups with low (n = 293), moderate (n = 191), and high (n = 41) compulsive-buying propensities. The results confirm that the high-propensity group presented the highest significant levels in the domain of stress and the lowest in efficacy, meaning, and structure. As to appraisal dimensions, the group with a high propensity to CB attained statistically lower appraisals in the dimensions of importance, enjoyment, self-identity, absorption, control, time adequacy, progress, and outcome of their projects; the appraisal of the level of stress, difficulty, and conflict increased as the level of involvement in CB increased. These findings have major implications for the design of prevention and intervention programs for this behavioral problem.

A Demographic Study on the Purchase Pattern of Consumers with respect to Social Learning Theory during COVID-19 times

Shopping is a necessity in everyone’s life. Mostly shopping is need based and sometimes it is a leisure activity in the form of entertainment. However when the condition leads to extreme buying situation resulting into destructive and harmful activity, then this is the result of Compulsive Buying Behaviour (CBB). While studying the consumer buying behaviour and process, the external stimuli is not the sufficient reason, to generate a response, rather the consumers’ characteristics significantly influence the way they perceive the stimuli, utilize their internal processes and result in a specific buying behaviour. Hull (1951) developed a model as a behavioural model to explain the social learning theory: Stimulus – Response Model (S – R Model). Few of psychologist and marketing researchers tried to find out the characteristics of consumers within “black box” and analyze the impact of both factors to determine specific buying behaviour. In this research project we have tried to analyse Social Learning Theory with respect to the purchase pattern of the consumer in Kolkataduring the COVID-19 Pandemic. The respondents are mostly the parents who are influenced by their children to exert Compulsive Buying Behaviour. The collected responses will be analysed using one way ANOVA to find out which of the factors significantly influence purchase behaviour. The findings of the study will help the organisation to decide their marketing strategies.