Studying Compulsive Buying

The trend of Compulsive buying started developing gradually from the early 1980s. Till then, it was seen as a problem restricted to a small section of the population. Among the several scales to measure these tendencies, the Diagnostic Screener for Compulsive buying (DSCB) (Faber & O'Guinn, 1992) gains prominence. This scale helps discriminate self-identified compulsive buyers from the members of the general population. In this study, researchers have used DSCB to identify compulsive buying tendencies in normal consumers.
A discussion of negative behaviors evokes a lot of interest largely because they deviate from our routine and normal lives. Compulsive buying is one such phenomenon that is viewed as a negative/ unwanted behavior that leads one to undesirable social and economic consequences. The phenomenon of compulsive buying is not new. Researchers in the early 19lh century called it Oniomania (compulsive desire to shop). It was defined as impulsively driven buying that resulted in senseless amount of debt (Kraepelin, 1915). It was only in the late 80s that compulsive buying began to receive the necessary attention (Magee, 1994) due to the serious personal and societal consequences. Years later, it is now a well-known fact that compulsive buying is a behavioral disorder that causes an individual to continually make purchases regardless of financial, social or psychological consequences(Faber, 1992,Valence et al 1988).
The genesis of research on compulsive buying finds its roots in obsession compulsion literature. Research papers on compulsive buying began to appear in areas such as psychotherapy (Kruger, 1988), addiction (Glatt & Cook, 1987) and consumer behavior (Faber, O' Guinn & Krych, 1987). Throughout literature there ...

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