Compulsive Buying: The Impact of Attitudes Toward Body Image,Eating Disorders,and Physical Appearance Investment

Abstract

Objective: The current research examined whether eating disorder risk and the attitudinal elements related to body image predict compulsive buying. Method: A sample of students attending two public universities located in the northeast United States were surveyed. Results: A multiple regression indicated that attitudes related to one’s physical appearance, fitness, and health as well as eating disorder risk were predictors of compulsive buying with appearance orientation being the strongest predictor of compulsive buying. Conclusions: Understanding the factors that affect compulsive buying aids the identification of problematic compulsive buying and informs the treatment of compulsive buying. Treatment models may be more effective if additional attention is given to addressing the anxiety compulsive buyers experience when they experience a discrepancy between their ideal and actual self.

Keywords

Compulsive buying body image appearance orientation eating disorder risk

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abramowitz

J. S.

Fabricant

L. E.

Taylor

Deacon

B. J.

McKay

Storch

E. A.

(2014) The relevance of analogue studies for understanding obsessions and compulsions. Clinical Psychology Review 34: 206–217. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2014.01.004.

Aiken

L. R.

(2000) Psychological testing and assessment, 10th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Bearden

W. O.

Netemeyer

R. G.

Teel

J. E.

(1989) Measurement of consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence. Journal of Consumer Research 15: 473–481. doi:10.1086/209186.

Black

D. W.

(1996) Compulsive buying: A review. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 57: 50–55.

Black

D. W.

(2001) Compulsive buying disorder: Definition, assessment, epidemiology, and clinical management. CNS Drugs 15: 17–27.

Cash

T. F.

(2000) Body-image assessments: Manuals and questionnaires. Retrieved from http://www.body-images.com/assessments/mbsrq.html.

Cash

T. F.

(2002) Cognitive-behavioral perspectives on body image. In: Cash

T. F.

Smolak

(eds) Body image: A handbook of science, practice, and prevention, New York, NY: Guilford Press, pp. 39–47.

Cash

T. F.

(2009) Body-image assessments: ASI-R. Retrieved from http://www.body-images.com/assessments/asi.html.

10.

Cash

T. F.

(2015) Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ). In: Wade

(ed.) Encyclopedia of feeding and eating disorders, Singapore: Springer. Singapore, pp. 1–4. doi:10.1007/978-981-287-087-2_3-1.

11.

Cash

T. F.

Deagle

E. A., III.

(1997) The nature and extent of body-image disturbance in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders 22: 107–125.

12.

Cash

T. F.

Melnyk

S. E.

Hrabosky

J. I.

(2004) The assessment of body image investment: An extensive revision of the Appearance Schemas Inventory. International Journal of Eating Disorders 35: 305–316. doi:10.1002/eat.10264.

13.

Cash

T. F.

Pruzinsky

(1990) Body images: Development, deviance, and change, New York, NY: Guilford Press.

14.

Cash

T. F.

Pruzinsky

(2002) Body image: A handbook of theory, research, and clinical practice, New York, NY: Guilford Press.

15.

Cash

T. F.

Smolak

(2011) Understanding body images: Historical and contemporary perspectives. In: Cash

T. F.

Smolak

(eds) Body image: A handbook of science, practice, and prevention, New York, NY: Guilford Press, pp. 3–11.

16.

Christenson

Faber

R. J.

de Zwann

Raymond

N. C.

Specker

S. M.

Ekern

M. D.

Mitchell

J. E.

(1994) Compulsive buying: Descriptive characteristics and psychiatric comorbidity. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 55: 5–11.

17.

Derbyshire

K. L.

Chamberlain

S. R.

Odlaug

B. L.

Schreiber

L. R. N.

Grant

J. E.

(2014) Neurocognitive functioning in compulsive buying disorder. Annals of Clinical Psychiatry 26: 57–63.

18.

DeSarbo

W. S.

Edwards

E. A.

(1996) Typologies of compulsive buying behavior: A constrained clusterwise regression approach. Journal of Consumer Psychology 5: 231–262. doi:10.1207/s15327663jcp0503_02.

19.

Dittmar

(1992) Perceived material wealth and first impressions. British Journal of Social Psychology 31: 379–391. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8309.1992.tb00980.x.

20.

Dittmar

(2001) Impulse buying in ordinary and “compulsive” consumers. In: Weber

E. U.

Baron

Loomes

(eds) Conflict and tradeoffs in decision making, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, pp. 110–135.

21.

Dittmar

(2005) Compulsive buying—A growing concern? An examination of gender, age, and endorsement of materialistic values as predictors. British Journal of Psychology 96: 467–491. doi:10.1348/000712605X53533.

22.

Dittmar

Beattie

Friese

(1996) Objects decision considerations and self-image in men’s and women’s impulse purchases. Acta Psychologica 93: 187–206. doi:10.1016/0001-6918(96)00019-4.

23.

Dittmar

Bond

Hurst

Kasser

(2014) The relationship between materialism and personal well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 107: 879–924. doi:10.1037/t00741-000.

24.

Dittmar

Drury

(2000) Self-image —Is it in the bag? A qualitative comparison between “ordinary” and “excessive” consumers. Journal of Economic Psychology 21: 109–142. doi:10.1016/S0167-4870(99)00039-2.

25.

Elliot

(1994) Addictive consumption: Function and fragmentation in postmodernity. Journal of Consumer Policy 17: 159–179. doi:10.1007/BF01016361.

26.

Faber

R. J.

Christenson

G. A.

de Zwann

Mitchell

(1995) Two forms of compulsive consumption: Comorbidity of compulsive buying and binge eating. Journal of Consumer Research 22: 296–304. doi:10.1086/209451.

27.

Faber

R. J.

O’Guinn

T. C.

(1992) A clinical screener for compulsive buying. Journal of Consumer Research 19: 459–469. doi:10.1086/209315.

28.

Fairburn

C. G.

Harrison

P. J.

(2003) Eating disorders. Lancet 361: 407–416. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(03)12378-1.

29.

Garner

D. M.

Olmsted

M. P.

Bohr

Garfinkel

P. E.

(1982) The eating attitudes test: Psychometric features and clinical correlates. Psychological Medicine 12: 871–878. doi:10.1017/S0033291700049163.

30.

Gregory

R. J.

(2000) Psychological testing: History, principles, and applications, 3rd ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

31.

Hanley

Wilhelm

M. S.

(1992) Compulsive buying: An exploration into self-esteem and money attitudes. Journal of Economic Psychology 13: 5–18. doi:10.1016/0167-4870(92)90049-D.

32.

Harnish

R. J.

Bridges

K. R.

(2015) Compulsive buying: The role of irrational beliefs, materialism, and narcissism. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy 33: 1–16. doi:10.1007/s10942-014-0197-0.

33.

Harnish

R. J.

Bridges

K. R.

Gump

J. T.

Carson

A. E.

(2018) The maladaptive pursuit of consumption: The impact of materialism, pain of paying social anxiety, social support, and loneliness on compulsive buying. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. Advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s11469-018-9883-y.

34.

Harnish

R. J.

Bridges

K. R.

Karelitz

J. L.

(2017) Compulsive buying: Prevalence, irrational beliefs and purchasing. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction 15: 993–1007. doi:10.1007/s11469-016-9690-2.

35.

Harnish

R. J.

Bridges

K. R.

Nataraajan

Gump

J. T.

Carson

A. E.

(2018) The impact of money attitudes and global life satisfaction on the maladaptive pursuit of consumption. Psychology & Marketing 35: 189–196. doi:10.1002/mar.21079.

36.

Higgins

E. T.

(1987) Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review 94: 319–340. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.94.3.319.

37.

Kemp

Kopp

S. W.

(2011) Emotion regulation consumption: When feeling better is the aim. Journal of Consumer Behavior: An International Research Review 10: 1–7. doi:10.1002/cb.341.

38.

Lejoyeux

Haberman

Solomon

Adès

(1999) Comparison of buying behavior in depressed patients presenting with or without compulsive buying. Comprehensive Psychiatry 40: 51–56. doi:10.1016/S0010-440X(99)90077-9.

39.

Maraz

Griffiths

M. D.

Demetrovics

(2016) The prevalence of compulsive buying: A meta-analysis. Addiction 111: 408–419. doi:10.1111/add.13223.

40.

Markus

(1977) Self-schemata and processing information about the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 35: 63–78. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.35.2.63.

41.

McCracken

(1990) Culture and consumption, Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

42.

McElroy

S. L.

Keck

P. E.

Jr Pope

H. G.

Jr Smith

J. M.

Strakowski

S. M.

(1994) Compulsive buying: A report of 20 cases. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 55: 242–248.

43.

Mitchell

J. E.

Redlin

Wonderlich

Crosby

Faber

Miltenberger

Lancaster

(2002) The relationship between compulsive buying and eating disorders. International Journal of Eating Disorders 32: 107–111. doi:10.1002/eat.10053.

44.

Müller

Mitchell

J. E.

(2014) Compulsive buying: Relationship to eating disorders, substance use disorders, and other impulse control disorders. In: Brewerton

T. D.

Dennis

A. B.

(eds) Eating disorders, addictions and substance use disorders: Research, clinical and treatment perspectives, Berlin, Germany: Springer., pp. 429–438. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-45378-6_19.

45.

O’Guinn

Faber

R. J.

(1989) Compulsive buying: A phenomenological exploration. Journal of Consumer Research 16: 147–157. doi:10.1086/209204.

46.

Ordaz

D. L.

Schaefer

L. M.

Choquette

Schueler

Wallace

Thompson

J. K.

(2018) Thinness pressures in ethnically diverse college women in the United States. Body Image 24: 1–4. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2017.11.004.

47.

Otero-López

J. M.

Villardefrancos

(2015) Compulsive buying and life aspirations: An analysis of intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Personality and Individual Differences 76: 166–170. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2014.12.013.

48.

Phillips

K. A.

(1991) Body dysmorphic disorder: The distress of imagined ugliness. American Journal of Psychiatry 148: 1138–1149.

49.

Richins

M. L.

Dawson

(1992) A consumer values orientation for materialism and its measurement: Scale development and validation. Journal of Consumer Research 19: 303–316. doi:10.1086/209304.

50.

Ridgway

N. M.

Kukar-Kinney

Monroe

K. B.

(2008) An expanded conceptualization and a new measure of compulsive buying. Journal of Consumer Research 35: 622–639. doi:10.1086/591108.

51.

Roberts

J. A.

Tanner

J. F.

Jr (2000) Compulsive buying and risky behavior among adolescents. Psychological Reports 86: 763–770. doi:10.2466/pr0.2000.86.3.763.

52.

Sung

Choi

S. M.

Ahn

Song

Y. -A.

(2015) Dimensions of luxury brand personality: Scale development and validation. Psychology & Marketing 32: 121–132. doi:10.1002/mar.

53.

Thompson

(2006) Foundations of behavioral statistics: An insight-based approach, New York, NY: Guildford Press.

54.

Tiggemann

(2011) Sociocultural perspectives on human appearance and body image. In: Cash

T. F.

Smolak

(eds) Body image: A handbook of science, practice, and prevention, New York, NY: Guilford Press, pp. 12–19.

55.

Walker

D. C.

Murray

A. D.

(2012) Body image behaviors: Checking, fixing, and avoiding. In: Cash

T. F.

(ed.) Encyclopedia of body image and human appearance Vol. 1, Waltham, MA: Academic Press, pp. 166–172.

56.

Weinstein

Maraz

Griffiths

M. D.

Lejoyeux

Demetrovics

(2016) Compulsive buying—Features and characteristics of addiction. In: Preedy

V. R.

(ed.) Neuropathology of drug addictions and substance misuse Vol. 3, London, England: Academic Press, pp. 993–1007.

57.

Williams

A. D.

(2012) Quality of life and psychiatric work impairment in compulsive buying: Increased symptom severity as a function of acquisition behaviors. Comprehensive Psychiatry 53: 822–828. doi:10.1037/t19526-000.