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A COMPULSIVE BUYING MODEL Sara E. Thompson - Unive rsity of North Texas ABSTRACT Compulsive buyi ng is a phenomenon that has received very little attention in consumer behavior literature. Literature regarding compulsive buying is revie wed and a model is developed for future testing. Antecedents and con sequences of this destructive behavior are identified and the expected relationships are revealed in the proposed model. INTRODUCTION The domain of consumer research is consumption at the organizational, household and individual levels. Most common consum ption models depict consumers as rational economic decision-making uni ts. These rational beings make decisions in ways which will maximize the utility derived from the goods and services they choose to consum e. An inherent assumption is that consumers will shop in order to obt ain these utility-maximizing goods. These constructs are typically ca lled information processing m odels. In the early 1980s, Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) encouraged consumer researchers to depart from information processing models and to look for experiential, emotionally based explanations for consumpt ion behaviors. They pointed out that consumer researchers spent the m ajority of their efforts studying people's rational purchases of tangi ble products. A parallel experiential model was proposed to illustra te the dimensions of "fantasies, feelings and fun" which could be expl ored in such research. Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) went on to sugge st that consumer researchers conduct research on the feelings arising from consumption. Some areas which employ this experiential approach are impulse buying, compulsive consumption and compulsive buying. Th e purpose of this study is to present a historical evolution of compu lsive buying literature. A second purpose is to propose a model of co mpulsive buying and to propose research to test the model. COMPULSIVE CONSUMPTION An area of consumer research which employs experiential models is comp ulsive consumption. Elizabeth Hirschman (1992) divided compulsive con sumers into the categories of distressed and sociopathic. Distressed compulsive consumers "turn to an external substance or behavior to (1 ) help them escape their anxiety and (2) make them feel more in contro l of themselves." Sociopathic compulsive consumers "exhibit strong i mpulsive drives that are experiences as irresistible... are above aver age in sensation-seeking tendencies and ... exhibit low levels of remo rse and guilt over their actions." Hirschman (1992) categorized comp ulsive buyers as distressed compulsive consumers because of the degree to which they express guilt and remorse over their actions. The focu s of Hirschman's paper was drug addiction. The paper drew on both im pulse buying and compulsive buying literature to illustrate the parall els between compulsive consumption behaviors. Compulsive buying is a n area of compulsive consumpti on that has been of increasing interest in the past decade. It meets the definition of compulsive consumption in that it is repetitive, pr oblematic for the individual and leads to long-term negative conseque nces (O'Guinn and Faber 1989). Compulsive buying is worthy of study b ecause of the negative effects it can have on individuals and on socie

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ty as well. Individuals with this problem can become overburdened by debt which can lead to bankruptcy which then places the burden on soc iety in the form of higher prices for goods and services (Faber, O'Gui nn, and Krych 1987; Moschis and Cox 1989) and in higher interest rate s (Faber, O'Guinn, and Krych 1987). One report showed that as much as ten percent of the consumer population engages in compulsive shopping (Trachtenberg 1988). Another important reason to study compulsive c onsumption is that it illustrates normal consumption in the extreme. Psychologists and anthropologists have found that through studying ab normal behaviors, greater unde rstanding of normal behaviors can emerge (O'Guinn and Faber 1989). T he process of compulsive buying is quite different from the "normal" b uying process. "Normal" consumption occurs when consumers make ration al decisions to shop for, purchase and use products. They are attempt ing to derive utility from their consumption behaviors through contem plative, deliberate problem solving (Holbrook and Hirschman 1982). Co mpulsive buyers engage in marketplace behavior for irrational reasons stemming from multiple causes and resulting in damage to themselves a nd society. Compulsive buyers go shopping when they are feeling stron g impulsive urges over which they cannot gain control. They do not th ink about the possible consequences of overspending. Compulsive buye rs shop and buy for the sake of the process as a means of controlling unpleasant feelings (O'Guinn and Faber 1989). All consumers engage i n impulse buying at some time (Rook 1987). Generally, impulsive buyin g does not result in dire con sequences for the consumer since most impulse purchases are for low-pr iced goods (Dittmar, Beattie, and Friese 1995). Compulsive buying can be viewed as uncontrolled impulse buying that is undertaken to allev iate stress or to manage mood states (Faber, O'Guinn, and Krycg 1987; Hanley and Wilhelm 1992; O'Guinn and Faber 1989). However, it can als o be viewed as an addiction which is beyond the consumer's control (H irschman 1992; O'Guinn and Faber 1989; Scherhornn, Reisch, and Raab 19 90). For the purpose of this study, compulsive buying will be defined as chronic, repetitive highly impulsive shopping and spending that c auses the consumer to experience negative consequences. In this sense , compulsive buying is behavior that is both highly impulsive and add ictive. LITERATURE REVIEW Since compulsive buyi ng is a relatively new stream of research, every attempt was made to b e exhaustive, rather than selective, when choosing articles for revie w. The literature is reviewed in chronological order to illustrate the overall historical developmen t of the domain. Faber, O'Guinn, and Krych (1987) interviewed 23 sel f- described compulsive buyers. An open-ended sentence completion me thod of questioning was used as a preliminary means of gathering quali tative data about respondents' experiences with purchasing, feelings t hey had about credit, and reactions to their spending habits. What e merged were some commonalities which encouraged Faber and his colleagu es to begin a phenomenological study of a larger group of compulsive buyers. Compulsive buyers appeared to be predominantly female, had va rying income levels, and reported experiencing fear and guilt as a res

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ult of their outrageous spending (Faber, O'Guinn, and Krych 1987). T his seminal work led this research team and other researchers to inves tigate the compulsive buying phenomenon in-depth. In 1988, a Houston psychiatrist wrote of his experiences in treating six women who exhib ited compulsive buying behavi or (Krueger 1988). He recounted episodes in which the women went on " buying binges" and could not stop until their credit cards were at th eir limits. These compulsive buyers were often rescued from the finan cial consequences by their families or significant others. The women most often bought clothes and described the utility of the clothes in helping them to take on a different identity. They also spoke of the clothes in sensual terms, of how they felt caressed and held when try ing on different textures of fabrics. Krueger noted that all but one of these women had eating disorders such as bulimia and that their se lf-esteem was notably low. His conclusion was that compulsive buying was a means for these women to build self-esteem through purchasing. Compulsive buying was described as "creat[ing] the illusion of power and limitlessness but actually enforc[ing] concrete limits and powerle ssness when money runs out" (Krueger 1988). Faber and O'Guinn (1988) published some preliminary r esults from their phenomenological study. They used a matched sample of 129 self-identified compulsive buyers and 129 "normal" consumers. A mailed, self- administered questionnaire was used to collect data on compulsiveness, materialism, and attitudes towards the act of shoppi ng and the items purchased. It was found that the self-identified com pulsive buyers differed significantly on all of the questionnaire item s except on the possessiveness construct in the materialism scale. T hey were more compulsive in general, more materialistic overall, more non-generous and envious, and found shopping to be more enjoyable than the "normal" consumer sample (Faber and O'Guinn 1988). Another team of researchers developed a scale to measure compulsive buying tendenc ies (Valence, d'Astous, and Fortier 1988). The basic constructs meas ured were tendency to spend, emotional reactivity and post-purchase gu ilt. A thirteen statement scale, entitled the Compulsive Buying Measu rement Scale was developed (V alence, d'Astous, and Fortier 1988). O'Guinn and Faber (1989) then pu blished a definitive work on compulsive buying. They conducted in-dep th interviews with six self-identified compulsive buyers and used thi s information to develop a questionnaire. The questionnaire was multi -dimensional and included items to measure obsessive-compulsiveness, s elf-esteem, materialism, fantasy, economic well-being, debt load, cre dit behavior and motivations for buying. A sample of 386 self-identif ied compulsive consumers and 250 "normal" consumers completed the mail ed questionnaires. The results revealed that the compulsive buyers wer e largely female, had similar income levels to the "normal" group and were generally younger (eight years) than noncompulsive buyers. Othe r results showed that compulsive buyers scored higher on the obsessive - compulsive dimension, had lower self-esteem, tended to fantasize mo re and were far more materialistic than the "normal" consumers. A sur prising finding was that comp

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ulsive buyers were not significantly different on the possessiveness d imension of the materialism scale. The reported results of the in-dep th interviews showed that many compulsive buyers were not concerned wi th what they had purchased, thus possessiveness was not a motive for their binge buying behavior. Based on this information, O'Guinn and F aber (1989) speculated that compulsive consumers were stimulated by th e buying process itself. O'Guinn and Faber (1989) also reported that compulsive buyers experience negative consequences as a result of th eir spending. Compulsive buyers had greater numbers of credit cards, paid fewer in full each month, and had more cards within $100 of their credit limit. Another significant finding was that compulsive consum ers spent 42 percent of their monthly income (excluding rent or mortg age expenses) on paying off debt while the general sample spent only 2 2 percent. These were only the monetary negative consequences. Many compulsive buyers reported fe elings of guilt and remorse, frustration over their lack of control ov er the behavior, and detrimental effects on their interpersonal relat ionships (O'Guinn and Faber 1989). Alain d'Astous (1990) undertook re search on compulsive buying tendencies amongst the general population of consumers using the compulsive buying scale developed by his team. He argued that uncontrollable buying urges were present in all consu mers and that some consumers developed into compulsive buyers over tim e. He administered the Compulsive Buying Measurement Scale through t he use of a self-administered questionnaire to 190 consumers in a midsized Canadian city. d'Astous also used a scale to determine social c lass to find out whether the "generalized urge to buy" existed amongst all classes. Questions concerning the presence of addiction in the family, and self-esteem were included as well. Another concept tested was "irrational use of credit." d'Astous found that compulsive buyin g and self-esteem were highly negatively correlated. Irrational use of credit was found to be stati stically associated with compulsive buying. In terms of social class , compulsive buying was no different amongst the groups. There were n ot enough respondents with other addicted family members to test this concept. Gender was highly significant, as was age. Younger women t ended to have a higher compulsive buying score. Perceived social stat us with regard to spending was tested using five questions which were summarized to make one score. It was found that compulsive buyers ha d a higher summative score with regard to these questions which means that they perceive that their social status is enhanced by spending mo ney (d'Astous 1990). This was the only study to use randomly identif ied consumers to measure compulsive buying. However, the intent was n ot to identify specific consumers as compulsive buyers but to identify the tendency amongst a "normal" group of consumers. A team of resea rchers conducted a study to de termine whether German consumers could suffer from compulsive buying (Scherhorn, Reisch, and Raab 1990). A sample consisting of 26 self-id entified compulsive buyers were interviewed and completed the Compulsi ve Buying Measurement Scale. A control sample of 136 "normal" consum ers also completed the scale. The basic view of compulsive buying tha

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t the German research team had was that buying is an addiction for tho se who identify themselves as compulsive. The Compulsive Buying Meas urement Scale was highly reliable in identifying the compulsive buyers . In the qualitative interview data, an emergent theme was that the c ompulsive buyers had fantasies of grandiosity when buying and compuls ively shopped to experience feelings of being rich, respected, powerfu l, glamorous or noble. The group of compulsive buyers was largely fem ale. Age was found to be negatively correlated to compulsive buying. Addiction and income were not found to be significantly different fo r the compulsive group (Scherh orn, Reisch, and Raab 1990). Hanley and Wilhelm (1992) looked at sel f-esteem and money attitudes among compulsive buyers. The Rosenberg New York Self-Esteem Scale, which measures "the extent to which indivi duals feel positive or negative about themselves" was used to assess s elf-esteem (Rosenberg 1979). A money attitudes scale was used to mea sure six factors of money beliefs and behaviors (Hanley and Wilhelm 1 992). The sample consisted of forty-three self- identified compulsive buyers and one hundred "normal" consumers. The Compulsive Buying Mea surement Scale was used to assure that the samples were discrete. It was found that compulsive buyers had lower self-esteem than the contr ol group. Highly significant differences in money attitudes were foun d for all but the effort/ability construct. Compulsive buyers were mo re likely than "normal" consumers to be "preoccupied with the importa nce of money as a solution to problems and to use money as a means of comparison." The only signif icant difference in demographics was marital status with compulsive bu yers more likely to be single or divorced than the "normal" consumers (Hanley and Wilhelm 1992). Faber and O'Guinn (1992) developed a comp ulsive buying clinical screening instrument. The significant variable s reported in the 1989 study were included in the development questio nnaire. The final screening instrument, entitled Compulsive Buying Sc ale is included as Appendix C. The instrument's internal and external validity were tested and its overall validity was very high. The sc reener was able to classify 87.5 percent of self-identified compulsive buyers using two standard deviations as a cutoff point and 92.3 perce nt using one standard deviation as a cutoff point. Faber and O'Guinn also tried to estimate the prevalence of compulsive buying in the gen eral population using the results of the screener development study. Using a criterion of 2 standard deviations or more, they estimated tha t as much as 1.8 percent of t he population could be classified as compulsive buyers (Faber and O'Gu inn 1992). COMPULSIVE BUYING MODEL The review of the literature related to compulsive buying revealed the model depicted in Figure 1 (omitted). The variables were selected on the basis of the frequency of significant findings and on some relationships which wer e revealed in the literature review. The relevant antecedent variable s in the Compulsive Buying Model are demographic (age, gender), self-e steem, and materialism and envy. The consequence variables include re morse, detriment to interpersonal relationships and negative financia l state. The hypothesized relationships between the variables and com

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pulsive buying are indicated in the model. Antecedents of Compulsive Buying Demographics. Age has been shown to be negatively correlate d to compulsive buying (d'Astous 1990; d'Astous, Maltais, and Roberge 1990; Faber and O'Guinn 1992; Faber et al. 1995; O'Guinn and Faber 198 9). Not all studies have fou nd this relationship but it is an intuitive relationship and it has al so been shown to hold in studies of materialism (Belk 1985; Richins an d Dawson 1992). Impulse buying has been described as "immature" beha vior in a study by Rook and Fisher (1995). Age will be included in th is study in order to clearly establish the expected negative relations hip. Gender is a very strong variable with high significance through out the reviewed works. Many authors speculated that since women typi cally shop for their families, they will be more likely to become comp ulsive buyers (d'Astous 1990; d'Astous, Maltais, and Roberge 1990; Fa ber and O'Guinn 1992; Faber, et al. 1995; Hanley and Wilhelm 1992; O'G uinn and Faber 1989; Scherhorn, Reisch, and Raab 1990). Another expla nation given was that young women are socialized to express themselves through their clothing and jewelry and to acquire large amounts of b oth as a means of self-expression (Krueger 1988). Faber and O'Guinn ( 1987) reported that a compuls ive buyers group had been receiving at least half of their hotline cal ls from men but that only about ten percent ever followed through to r eceive help. Faber and O'Guinn speculated that women were more incli ned to seek help for their problems and thus were overrepresented in t he compulsive buying group. The question of gender's relationship to compulsive consumption remains unresolved. Psychographics. Material ism has been defined as "the importance a consumer attaches to worldly possessions" (Belk 1985). O'Guinn and Faber (1989) have found that compulsive buyers are highly materialistic using Belk's overall measur e of materialism. Belk's (1985) materialism scale (see Appendix A) co ntains three subscales which include envy, non-generosity and possess iveness. Among the three subscales, envy was found to be the most sig nificant and consistent construct of materialism which with which comp ulsive buyers identified (Faber and O'Guinn 1992). Envy is "the desi re for others' possessions, be they objects, experiences or persons" (Belk 1985). Compulsive buyers seem to be more envious than "normal" consumers. Self-esteem was fou nd to be negatively correlated to compulsive buying in most of the lit erature (d'Astous 1990; d'Astous, Maltais, and Roberge 1990; Faber, et al. 1995; Hanley and Wilhelm 1992; O'Guinn and Faber 1989, 1992; Sch erhom, Reisch, and Raab 1990). Low self-esteem plagues compulsive buy ers and is a likely cause for them to seek relief through shopping and buying. Krueger (1988) described his clientele as having especially low self-esteem and needing to turn to others for affirmation and est eem regulation. Krueger (1988) theorized that his clients needed to purchase clothes to create a self and to establish body boundaries. L ow self-esteem is the second most consistent finding of all of the com pulsive buying studies. Compulsive buyers who have admitted to the p roblem may experience a diminution of self-esteem once they have recog nized their failure to control

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their behavior. The negative relationship between self- esteem and c ompulsive buying merits further testing. Consequences of Compulsive B uying The consequences of remorse and detriment to interpersonal rel ationships may have a relationship to self-esteem, an antecedent. It is possible that when compulsive buyers experience these consequences, their self-esteem declines and they engage in compulsive buying to i mprove it. This relationship is illustrated in the model in Figure 1. Financial state was used O'Guinn and Faber (1989) by incorporateing measures of consumer's credit card debt and debt ratios to quantify fi nancial state. Some inconsistencies emerged over time because the ove rall population of American consumers acquired greater numbers of cre dit cards and greater amounts of consumer debt (Faber and O'Guinn 1992 ). Their findings were generally consistent in that compulsive buyers showed that income levels were not significantly different from thos e of noncompulsive buyers (Han ley and Wilhelm 1992; O'Guinn and Faber 1989; Scherhorn, Reisch, and Raab 1990). This reinforces the notion that compulsive buying leads t o a negative financial state. Interpersonal Relationships was also me asured by O'Guinn and Faber (1989). Compulsive buyers reported in in -depth interviews that their actions are detrimental to their interper sonal relationships. Hanley and Wilhelm (1992) found that compulsive buyers were more likely to be divorced or unmarried. Krueger (1988) described his clients as having dissatisfying relationships with their parents and significant others. One of his clients maintained a rela tionship with a man she didn't even like in order to maintain her com pulsive buying (Krueger 1988). This is a variable that needs further exploration through empirical study. Guilt is also considered a cons equence. Much of the research on compulsive buying revealed that comp ulsive buyers feel significantly greater levels of guilt after their buying binges (Faber and O'Gui nn 1992; O'Guinn and Faber 1989; Scherhorn, Reisch, and Raab 1990). The only subjects who did not express post-purchase guilt were the ado lescent group studied by d'Astous, Maltais, and Roberge (1990). Impul se buyers expressed guilt, shame and fear over their purchases (Rook 1 987). O'Guinn and Faber (1989) pointed out that the magnitude of rem orse among impulse buyers was not as great as among compulsive buyers. Hirschman (1992) differentiated between types of addiction based on the incidence of remorse over their actions. This variable is a dime nsion of the Compulsive Buying Measurement Scale (Valence, d'Astous, a nd Fortier 1988). METHOD Instrument Develop ment Data will be collected through the use of a self-report questio nnaire. The questionnaire will be composed of several existing instru ments. The Faber and O'Guinn (1992) Compulsive Buying Scale will be t he screening component of the questionnaire. Its reliability and val idity were reported to be very good for identifying compulsive buyers. The Compulsive Buying Scale i s available in the Marketing Scales Handbook. The Compulsive Buying Measurement Scale will also be included (Valence, d'Astous, and Fortie r 1988). The scale has been used in most studies of compulsive buyin g and its reliability and validity are well- established (d'Astous 199

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0; d'Astous, Maltais, and Roberge 1990; Hanley and Wilhelm 1992; Scher horn, Reisch, and Raab 1990). This scale (as shown in Appendix B) is composed of three dimensions: tendency to spend (items 1,2,9,10,11, and 12), reactive aspect (items 3,4,5, and 8) and post-purchase guilt (items 6,7, and 13) (d'Astous 1990). Responses are indicated in a 5 point Likert scale ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree " (Valence, d'Astous, and Fortier 1988). This second measure of compu lsive buying will be included to assure that the "normal" buyer sample is not contaminated and to assess levels of post-purchase guilt betw een groups. Belk's (1985) Ma terialism Scale (as shown in Appendix A) will be incorporated as well. This scale is composed of three subscales; which measure possessive ness, nongenerosity and envy. All three subscales are combined to cre ate an overall measure of materialism (Belk 1985). A 1O item scale to measure self-esteem will also be included. The Rosenberg New York S elf-Esteem Scale has been shown to be highly reliable (Rosenberg 1979) . It includes descriptive statements which respondents indicate their level of agreement with. In order to assess detriment to interperso nal relationships, respondents' marital status will be asked. Marita l status will include single, cohabitating, married, divorced and wido wed. The number of times married and divorced will also be included. This should be a good indicator of interpersonal relationships. Sta tements which describe respondents' feelings about their relationships with others will be developed to include in this questionnaire. Ag e, gender and income will also be included for both model testing and descriptive statistics. Debt-r atio will be included to determine financial state. Debt- ratio will be computed using total monthly debt less mortgage or rent expense. Race will be included for descriptive purposes. Validation of the qu estionnaire will require that it be administered to pilot samples of c ompulsive and non- compulsive buyers. A local Debtor's Anonymous chap ter will be sampled for the pilot study. A matched sample of self-id entified noncompulsive buyers will be selected from the students and s taff of a university. Sampling Two samples of 100 compulsive buyers and 100 noncompulsive buyers will be drawn for comparison. The comp ulsive buyer group will be drawn by utilizing the statewide network of Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies for referrals. The credit counse lors will be given copies of the Compulsive Buying Scale to administe r to their clients. Clients will fill out the screener on a voluntary basis and return it by mail t o the researcher. Those whose scores show them to be compulsive buye rs will be contacted by the researcher by mail, will be asked to parti cipate in the study and will be advised of self-help organizations in their area. This method may be advantageous to all involved. First , clients who present for credit counseling can be screened and referr ed to self-help organizations such as Debtor's Anonymous in a relative ly fast manner. Credit counselors may be able to actually assist cli ents with compulsive buying problems right away through participation in the study. It will also help the researcher since this method of s ample selection avoids the issues involved with a self-identified sam

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ple. Credit counselors will not be given any client information obtai ned by the researcher. Those who are identified will be mailed an agr eement to participate in the study. This preparation may assure highe r response rates. A disadvantage of this sample selection technique is that it will take several s teps and some time to complete, which may mean a greater drop out rat e. However, by working with the credit counseling network, a large en ough group may be obtained to overcome this problem. The non-compuls ive buyer sample will be drawn from throughout the state to ensure rep resentativeness. Using an address directory, a randomly generated lis t of names and addresses will be created. A post card describing the study will be mailed a week prior to the questionnaire. The post car d will be used to create interest in the study and to validate the add resses. Approximately 200 cover letters, questionnaires and return e nvelopes will be mailed to try to obtain at least a 50% response rate. A follow up letter will be sent to nonrespondents no later than a we ek after the first mailing. These efforts will take more time and mo ney than surveying college students but they are necessary to obtain b etter representativeness. LIMITATIONS The model and the study are based upon a research stream that is very recent. Many of the variables described in the literature were not well defined. Many relationships appear t o have been implied by the researchers without actual testing. An inh erent flaw in all of the literature on compulsive buying is the bias that is created through the use of self-selected samples (Davis and Co senza 1988). The technique for overcoming this problem may prove unsu ccessful. However, if this study is successful, it will be a sizable contribution to our understanding of compulsive buying. APPENDIX A Belk's Materialism Scale (1985) Materialism Scale Items by Subscale NOTE* = rever se scored Possessiveness Subscale 1. Renting or leasing a car is mo re appealing to me than owning one.* 2. I tend to hang on to thin gs I should probably throw out. 3. I get very upset if something is stolen from me, even if it has little monetary value. 4. I d on't get particularly upset wh en I lose things.* 5. I am less likely than most people to lock thing s up.* 6. I would rather buy something I need than borrow it from someone else. 7. I worry about people taking my possessions. 8. When I travel I like to take a lot of photographs. 9. I never dis card old pictures or snapshots. Non-generosity Subscale 1. I enjoy having guests stay in my home.* 2. I enjoy sharing what I have.* 3. I don't like to lend things, even to good friends. 4. It makes sense to buy a lawnmower with a neighbor and share it.* 5. I don't mi nd giving rides to those who don't have a car.* 6. I don't like to have anyone in my home when I'm not there. 7. I enjoy donatin g things to charities.* Envy Subscale 1. I am bothered when I see p eople who buy anything they want. 2. I don't know anyone whose s pouse or steady date I would like to have as my own.* 3. When fr iends do better than me in competition it usually makes me happy f or them.* 4. People who are

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very wealthy often feel they are too good to talk to average peopl e. 5. There are certain people I would like to trade places with . 6. When friends have things I cannot afford it bothers me. 7. I don't seem to get what is coming to me. 8. When Hollywood stars o r prominent politicians have things stolen from them I really feel sorry for them.* APPENDIX B The Compul sive Buying Measurement Scale of Valence, d'Astous, and Fort ier (1988) 1. When I have money, I cannot help but spend part or the whole of it. 2. I am often impulsive in my buying behavior. 3. For me, shopping is a way of facing the stress of my daily life and of relaxing. 4. I sometimes feel that something inside pushed me to go shopping. 5. There are times when I have a strong urge to buy (clothing, books, etc.) 6. At times, I have felt somewhat gu ilty after buying a product, because it seemed unreasonable. 7. There are some things I buy th at I do not show anybody for fear of being perceived as irrational in my buying behavior ("a foolish expense"). 8. I often have an unexplainable urge, a sudden and spontaneous desire, to go and bu y something in a store. 9. As soon as I enter a shopping center, I ha ve an irresistible urge to go into a shop to buy something. 10. I am one of those people who often respond to direct mail offers (e .g. books & records). 11. I have often bought a product that I did not need, while knowing that I had very little money left. 12. I am a spendthrift. 13. I have sometimes thought "If I had it to do over again, I would..." and felt sorry for something I have done or said. REFERENCES Belk, Russell W. (1985), "Mat erialism: Trait Aspects of Living in the Material World," Journal of Consumer Research, 12 (December), 265-280. d'Astous, Alain (1990), " An Inquiry Into the Compulsive Side of 'Normal' Consumers," Journal of Consumer Policy, 13 (March), 15-31. d'Astous, Alain, Julie Maltais and Caroline Roberge (1990), " Compulsive Buying Tendencies of Adolescent Consumers," in Advances in Consumer Research, M. Goldberg, G. Gorn and R. Pollay, eds. Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, 306-312. Davis, Duane and Rober t M. Cosenza (1988), Business Research for Decision Making. Boston, M A: PWS-Kent Publishing. Dittmar, Helga, Jane Beattie, and Susanne Friese (1995), "Gender Identity and Material Symbols: Objects and De cision Considerations in Impulse Purchases," Journal of Economic Psych ology, 16 (September), 491- 511. Faber, Ronald J., Thomas C. O'Guinn and Raymond Krych (1987), "Compulsive Consumption," in Advances in C onsumer Research, M. Wallendorf and P. Anderson, eds. Provo, UT: Ass ociation for Consumer Research, 132-135. Faber, Ronald J. and Thomas C. O'Guinn (1988), "Compulsive Consumption and Credit Abuse," Journal of Consumer Policy, 11 (1), 97-109. Faber, Ronald J. and Thomas C. O 'Guinn (1992), "A Clinical Sc reener for Compulsive Buying," Journal of Consumer Research, 19 (Decem ber), 459-469. Faber, Ronald J., Gary A. Christenson, Martina De Zwaa n and James Mitchell (1995), "Two Forms of Compulsive Consumption: C omorbidity of Compulsive Buying and Binge Eating," Journal of Consumer Research, 22 (December), 296-304. Hanley, Alice and Mari S. Wilhelm

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(1992), "Compulsive Buying: An Exploration into Self-Esteem and Mone y Attitudes," Journal of Economic Psychology, 13 (March), 5-18. Hir schman, Elizabeth C. (1992), "The Consciousness of Addiction: Toward a General Theory of Compulsive Consumption," Journal of Consumer Resea rch, 19 (September), 155-179. Holbrook, Morris B. and Elizabeth C. H irschman (1982), "The Experiential Aspects of Consumption: Consumer Fantasies, Feelings, and Fun," Journal of Consumer Research, 9 (Septem ber), 132-140. Krueger, David W. (1988), "On Compulsive Shopping and Spending: A Psychodynamic Inquiry," American Journal of Psychotherap y, 42 (October), 574-584. Mo schis, George P. and Dena Cox (1989), "Deviant Consumer Behavior," in Advances in Consumer Research, T. Srull, ed. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 732-737. O'Guinn, Thomas C. and Ronald J. Fab er (1989), "Compulsive Buying: A Phenomenological Exploration," Jour nal of Consumer Research, 16 (September), 147-157. Richins, Marsha L. and Scott Dawson (1992), "A Consumer Values Orientation for Materiali sm and its Measurement: Scale Development and Validity," Journal of Co nsumer Research, 19 (December), 303-316. Rook, Dennis W. (1987), "Th e Buying Impulse," Journal of Consumer Research, 14 (September), 189-1 99. Rook, Dennis W. and Robert J. Fisher (1995), "Normative Influenc es on Impulsive Buying Behavior," Journal of Consumer Research, 22 (De cember), 305-313. Rosenberg, Morris (1979), Conceiving the Self. New York: Basic Books. Scherhorn, Gerhard (1990), "The Addictive Trai t in Buying Behavior," Journal of Consumer Policy, 13 (March), 33-51. Scherhorn, Gerhard, Lucia A . Reisch and Gerhard Raab (1990), "Addictive Buying in West Germany: An Empirical Study," Journal of Consumer Policy, 13 (December), 355-3 87. Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. (1988), "Shop Until you Drop?," Forbes, 141 (January 11), 40. Valence, Gilles, Alain d'Astous and Louis Fort ier (1988), "Compulsive Buying: Concept and Measurement," Journal of Consumer Policy, 11 (December), 419-433.

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