Helga Dittmar
Compulsive buying – a growing concern? An examination of gender, age, and endorsement of materialistic values as predictors
University of Sussex
compulsive buying understudied growing dysfunctional consumer behaviour harmful psychological financial consequences clinical perspectives treat psychiatric disorder whereas recent proposals emphasize increasing endorsement materialistic values cause uncontrolled buying eg dittmar 2004b kasser kanner 2004 present research aims improve understanding compulsive buying examining gender age endorsement materialistic values key predictors three uk questionnaire studies sampled individuals contacted selfhelp organization residentially matched controls n 330 consumer panelists multinational corporation n 250 16 18yearold adolescents n 195 results confirmed previously documented gender differences showed younger people prone compulsive buying central findings materialistic value endorsement emerged strongest predictor individuals compulsive buying significantly mediated observed age differences