Men, women have similar rates of compulsive buying, Stanford study shows at Catch a Gideon

November 2nd, 2006 by digerati

The following is an excerpt from a study done by Standford on compulsive buying behavior. Most would believe that women are more susceptible to this kind of behavior, but Stanford says this is not the case. The original article is here.

STANFORD, Calif. — Contrary to popular opinion, nearly as many men as women experience compulsive buying disorder, a condition marked by binge buying and subsequent financial hardship, according to new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

“The widespread opinion that most compulsive buyers are women may be wrong,” the researchers wrote in their paper, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Senior author Lorrin Koran, MD, emeritus professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, said the study is the first large, nationwide effort to assess the prevalence of the disorder. The study found that more than one in 20 adults in the United States suffers from the condition.

People who have compulsive buying disorder—sometimes called compulsive shopping disorder—are often struck with an irresistible, intrusive and often senseless impulse to buy. It is common for sufferers to go on frequent shopping binges and to accumulate large quantities of unnecessary, unwanted items. Sufferers often rack up thousands of dollars in debt and lie to their loved ones about their purchases. The consequences can be bankruptcy, divorce, embezzlement and even suicide attempts.

Koran emphasized that this type of shopping and buying is not the same as occasional impulse buying, which many people engage in.

“Compulsive buying leads to serious psychological, financial and family problems including depression, overwhelming debt and the breakup of relationships,” Koran explained. “People don’t realize the extent of damage it does to the sufferer.”

Prior to this study, researchers estimated that compulsive buying disorder affected between 2 and 16 percent of the U.S. population and that 90 percent of sufferers were women. Koran launched this study to get a more definitive estimate of how many people were affected by the disorder.

For the study, the researchers conducted a national, random-sample household telephone survey and interviewed 2,513 adults. The researchers asked respondents about buying attitudes and behaviors, and their financial and demographic data. The team used a screening instrument, the Compulsive Buying Scale, to determine whether respondents were compulsive buyers.

The researchers found that 6 percent of women and 5.5 percent of men had symptoms consistent with compulsive buying disorder. The gender-adjusted prevalence rate was 5.8 percent.

Read the rest of the article here.