Compulsive buying disorder: validation of an assessment questionnaire

Journal title PSICOLOGIA DI COMUNITA’
Author/s Loredana Varveri, Santo Di Nuovo
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2014/1 Language Italian
Pages 19 P. 27-45 File size 110 KB
DOI 10.3280/PSC2014-001003
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The article presents the construction and results of a study aimed to validate a questionnaire (Problematic Shopping Scale, PSS) devised to assess buying behavior. The questionnaire, in its final form, is composed of 22 item and shows good internal consistency. The factor analysis shows the existence of two main dimensions accounting for 44.84% of the total variance. The study confirms the reliability and validity of the instrument, and its consistency with the model, therefore it can be considered a good psychometric tool suitable to assess problematic buying behavior. Also, it is an instrument easy to administer because require no special training, and it is useful for epidemiological studies and in a screening procedure to be followed by a scoping phase.

Keywords: Compulsive shopping, addiction, assessment, reliability, validation, Problematic Shopping Scale.

  1. Black D. (2007). A Review of Compulsive Buying Disorder. World Psychiatry, 6: 14-18, testo disponibile al sito: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1805733/.
  2. Biolcati R. and Melotti G. (2013). Contribution to the internal validation of the Italian version of the Compulsive Buying Scale (Valance, d’Astous and Fortier, 1988). Bollettino di Psicologia Applicata, 266: 13-21.
  3. Campbell C. (1987). The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell (trad. it.: L’etica romantica e lo spirito del consumismo moderno. Roma: Lavoro, 1992).
  4. Christenson G.A., Faber R.J., de Zwaan M., Raymond N.C., Specker S.M., Ekern M.D., Mackenzie T.B., Crosby R.D., Crow S.J. and Eckert E.D. (1994). Compulsive buying: descriptive characteristics and psychiatric comorbility. Journal of Clinical psychiatry, 55: 5-11.
  5. DeSarbo W.S. and Edwards E.A. (1996). Typologies of compulsive buying behavior: a constrained clusterwise regression approach. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 5: 231-252. DOI: 10.1207/s15327663jcp0503_0
  6. Dittmar H. (2005). Compulsive buying - A growing concern? An examination of gender, age, and endorsement of materialistic values as predictors. British Journal of Psychology, 96 (4): 467-491. DOI: 10.1348/000712605X53533
  7. Dittmar H. (2004). Understanding and diagnosing compulsive buying. In: Coombs R., editor, Handbook of Addictive disorders: a practical Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment. New York: Wiley, cap. 13, pp. 438-472.
  8. Edwards E.A. (1993). Development of a new scale to measure compulsive buying behavior. Financial Counseling and Planning, 4: 67-84, testo disponibile sul sito https://afcpe.org/assets/pdf/vol-45.pdf.
  9. Elliott R. (1994). Addictive Consumption: Function and Fragmentation in Postmodernity. Journal of Consumer Policy, 17: 159-179.
  10. Faber R.J. and O’Guinn T.C. (1992). A clinical screener for compulsive buying. Journal of Consumer Research, 19: 459-469. DOI: 10.1086/20931
  11. Friese S. (2000). Self-concept and identity in a consumer society: aspects of symbolic product meaning. Marburg: Tectum.
  12. Frost R.O., Kim H., Morris C., Bloss C., Murray-Close M. and Steketee G. (1998). Hoarding, compulsive buying and reasons for saving. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36: 657-664. DOI: 10.1016/S0005-7967(98)00056-4
  13. García I. (2007). Addictive Buying: Causes, Processes, and Symbolic Meanings. Thematic Analysis of a Buying Addict’s Diary. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 10, 2: 408-422, testo disponibile al sito: http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/SJOP/article/view/SJOP0707220408A.dom House. Goodman W.K., Price L.H., Rasmussen S.A., Mazure C., Fleischman R.L. and Hill
  14. C.L. (1989). The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), part I: development, use, and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46: 1006-1011.
  15. Goodman W.K., Price L.H., Rasmussen S.A., Mazure C., Delgado P. and Heninger
  16. G.R. (1989). The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), part II: validity. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46: 1012-1016.
  17. Krych R. (1989). Abnormal consumer behavior: a model of addictive behaviors. Advances in Consumer Research, 16: 745-748.
  18. Hollander E., editor (1993). Obsessive-compulsive related disorders. Washington: American Psychiatric Press.
  19. Isen A.M. (1984). The influence of positive affect on decision making and cognitive organization. Advances in Consumer Research, 11: 534-537, testo disponibile al sito: http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=6302.
  20. Lejoyeux M., Andes J., Tassian V. and Solomon J. (1996). Phenomenology and psychopathology of uncontrolled buying. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 153: 1524-1539.
  21. Monahan P., Black D.W. and Gabel J. (1996). Reliability and validity of a scale to measure change in persons with compulsive buying. Psychiatry Research, 64: 59-67. DOI: 10.1016/0165-1781(96)02908-3
  22. Neuner N., Raab G. and Reisch L.A. (2005). Compulsive buying in maturing consumer societies: An empirical re-inquiry. Journal of Economic Psychology, 26: 509-522. DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2004.08.002
  23. Pani R. e Biolcati R. (1998). Shopping compulsivo. Urbino: QuattroVenti.
  24. Schwartz S.H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theory and empirical tests in 20 countries. In: Zanna M., editor, Advances in experimental social psychology. New York: Academic Press, cap. 1, pp. 1-65.
  25. Scherhorn G., Reisch L.A. and Raab G. (1990). Addictive buying in West Germany: An empirical study. Journal of Consumer Policy, 13: 355-387.
  26. Valence G., d’Astous A. and Fortier L. (1988). Compulsive buying: concept and measurement. Journal of Consumer Policy, 11: 419-433.
  27. Villarino R.R., González-Lorenzo M., Fernández-González Á., Lameiras-
  28. Fernández M. and Foltz M.L. (2006). Individual factors associated with buying addiction: An empirical study. Addiction Research and Theory, 14 (5): 511-525.
  29. Villarino R.R., Otero-López J.M. and Castro R.R. (2001). Addictión a la Compra. Madrid: Pirámid.

Loredana Varveri, Santo Di Nuovo, Il disturbo di acquisto compulsivo: validazione di uno strumento di assessment in "PSICOLOGIA DI COMUNITA’" 1/2014, pp 27-45, DOI: 10.3280/PSC2014-001003