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YCOMP-51424; No of Pages 5

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect
Comprehensive Psychiatry xx (2014) xxx xxx
www.elsevier.com/locate/comppsych

A study investigating the association between compulsive buying with

measures of anxiety and obsessivecompulsive behavior among
internet shoppers

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Department of Behavioral Science, University of Ariel, Science Park, Ariel 40700, Israel
Paris 7 University, Department of Psychiatry, Paris, France, and Hospital Bichat Claude Bernard, AP-HP and Maison Blanche Hospital, Paris, France

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A. Weinstein a,, Hila Mezig a , S. Mizrachi a , M. Lejoyeux b

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Abstract

Background: Compulsive buying is a chronic, repetitive behavior that becomes a primary response to negative events and feelings. Compulsive
buyers are obsessed by buying and their behavior occurs in response to negative emotions and results in a decrease in the intensity of negative
emotions. Euphoria or relief from negative emotions is the most common consequence of compulsive buying. A large number of studies have
investigated the association between compulsive buying and anxiety, and some studies have used the Spielberger traitstate anxiety inventory.
Procedure: Compulsive buying, state and trait anxiety and general obsessivecompulsive measures were assessed among 120 habitual
internet shoppers (2+ times a week, 70 men and 50 women).
Results: Results showed that Edwards Compulsive Buying scale measures were associated with Spielberger trait and not state anxiety
measures. Spielberger Trait anxiety measures were also correlated with measures of YaleBrown ObsessiveCompulsive scale (Y-Bocs).
Finally, there were no sex differences in this sample.
Conclusions: The results of this study support existing evidence for an association between compulsive buying and anxiety and they will be
discussed in view of current research on comorbidity of behavioural addiction.
2014 Published by Elsevier Inc.

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1. Introduction

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Buying is a routine part of everyday life. However, in

specific situations, buying may be unplanned and sudden,
initiated on the spot and associated with a strong urges and
feelings of pleasure and excitement. This kind of purchasing is
generally known as compulsive buying when it is repetitive
and leads to psychological and economic distress [1].
Several definitions and criteria were proposed for compulsive buying, for example McElroy [2] described symptoms
equivalent of craving and withdrawal that are being applied
to buying behavior. Goodman [3] has proposed criteria for
shopping addiction that can be found among the population
of compulsive buyers. Compulsive buying, like internet
addiction, is not represented in the DSM-V classification as
a behavioral addiction, since it was argued that there are no

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Corresponding author.
E-mail address: avivweinstein@yahoo.com (A. Weinstein).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.11.003
0010-440X/ 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc.

clear diagnostic criteria, lack of sufficient data and overlap

with other psychiatric disorders such as Obsessive compulsive
Disorders, anxiety or depression. Nevertheless, compulsive
buying appears as a more and more frequent phenomenon
in industrialized countries which have become societies of
excessive consumption [4,5].
Compulsive buying has been associated with several
comorbid psychiatric disorders such as depression, obsessive
compulsive disorder, eating disorders, alcohol and nicotine
dependence and impulse-control disorders. Depression is the
most frequent among compulsive buyers. McElroy [2] found
that among 20 patients meeting specific criteria of compulsive
disorder 19 met DSM-III-R criteria for lifetime diagnosis of a
major mood disorder most commonly bipolar disorder.
McElroy [2] also noted that 70% of the patients presenting with
compulsive buying described buying as high", buzz", or
rush". For most patients buying typically increases during
mildly to moderately severe depressive episodes and decreases
during hypomanic, manic and severe depressive episodes.
Patients reported that when depressed, only shopping made

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2.1. Participants

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2. Procedure

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There were 120 participants, 70 women (mean age

31 years and 8 months s.d = 9.13) and 50 men (mean age
29 years and 1 month s.d. = 5.55) (overall mean 31 years
age range 1860). Marital status included 50% single, 41.4%
married and 2.3% divorced. Academic status included 31%
high school education, 66% University Bachelor degree and
2.5% with University Master's degree. All participants shopped
regularly on the internet for at least twice a week.
The questionnaires were delivered by email or by a social
network (Facebook). All participants were informed that the
questionnaires are anonymous, and that their details will be
kept confidentially. A hundred and twenty of the 130 who
were approached for the study returned their questionnaires.
The sample was gathered by students who approached
fellow students who are known to shop on the internet
hence the high response rate. The study was approved by
the Institutional Review Board (IRB-Helsinki committee)
of the University.

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2.2. Questionnaires

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Demographic questionnaire includes items on sex, education, country of birth, year of birth, marital status, religion, and
number of internet shopping per week.
Anxiety Spielberger Trait and State Anxiety Inventory
(STAI) [22] has 40 items, 20 trait anxiety and 20 state
anxiety items. Scores on a Likert scale range from 1 not at all"
to 4 agree very much". The questionnaire had been validated
with mean Cronbach internal reliability of = 0.83 for
Spielberger Trait and = 0.88 for Spielberger Trait [22]. In
our study the questionnaire had a Cronbach internal reliability
of = 0.84.
Edward Compulsive Buying Scale (ECBS) [31] includes
13 items scored on a Likert scale ranging from 1 often" to 5
never". The questionnaire had been validated with mean
Cronbach internal reliability of ranging between 0.76 and
091 [31]. In our study the questionnaire had a Cronbach
internal reliability of = 0.75.
YBOCS-SV YaleBrown Obsessive Compulsive Scale
[32,33] has 10 items on a Likert scale ranging from 1 full
control" to 5 no control". The questionnaire had been validated
with mean Cronbach internal reliability of = 0.89 [32,33].
In our study the questionnaire had a Cronbach internal reliability
of = 0.67.

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measures of obsessivecompulsive behavior using the Y-Bocs

scale. Finally, due to our relatively small sample size we have
not assessed prevalence of compulsive buying. Instead, we
investigated whether measures of compulsive buying among
internet shoppers would be higher in women than men in
this study.

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them feel good. A high prevalence of 31.9% of depressives has

been diagnosed as compulsive buyers [6]. Compulsive buying is
also prevalent among patients with ObsessiveCompulsive
Disorder (OCD). A prevalence rate of 23% of compulsive
buying was found among patients with OCD [7]. Compulsive
buying was also associated with eating disorders. Twenty
percent of compulsive buyers also present eating disorders;
conversely, 17.6% of binge eaters present compulsive buying
disorders [8]. Among patients with eating disorders, compulsive
buying disorder was the most common diagnosis (11.8%) [9].
Other co-morbid conditions include alcohol dependence [8]
and nicotine dependence [10]. A large percentage of women
with nicotine dependence (45.6%) presented compulsive buying
[10]. Compulsive buying is also prevalent among depressed
patients with an impulse control disorder (intermittent explosive
disorder, kleptomania, pyromania, pathological gambling,
trichotillomania and non-specified impulse control disorder)
[11]. Other behavioral addictions such as pathological gambling
also have comorbid psychiatric conditions such as alcohol use
disorder, drug use disorder, nicotine dependence, mood
disorders, anxiety disorders, and personality disorders [12,13].
Quite a few studies analyzed specifically the role of
anxiety in compulsive buying [1,1420]. Additionally, some
authors [21] have examined the links between compulsive
buying and both state anxiety and trait anxiety employing the
StateTrait Anxiety Inventory [22]. In fact, anxiety has been
one of the determinants which have raised the researchers'
interest since the initial studies in this field [23,24]. Others
[25] have found no differences between compulsive and noncompulsive buyers in terms of distrust and general anxiety
which are otherwise known to be strong indicators of
obsessioncompulsion.
It is well known that compulsive buying is enhanced by
the internet retail environment which is free of social
interaction [2628]. The number of women shopping online
is increasing, although relatively little is known about gender
differences when buying on the Web [27]. Dittmar [28] have
argued that given that men and women have been shown to
differ in their attitudes toward both the Internet and shopping
(in conventional environments), it seems surprising that there
is little research that explicitly addresses gender differences in
on-line buying". A previous study showed high prevalence in
compulsive buying in women among patients admitted to a
French Psychiatric Emergency Service [29]. Another study
which used a random sample, national household telephone
survey among 2513 adults from the general population in the
US did not find a significant gender effect in their sample [30].
This study investigated the relationship between compulsive buying, state and trait anxiety and obsessivecompulsive
measures in a cohort of women and men who shop habitually
on the internet. In view of previous evidence indicating that
compulsive buying is associated with relief of tension and
negative affect, we have hypothesized that compulsive buying
would be positively associated with anxiety. Secondly, since
compulsive buying is often co-occurs with OCD, we have
hypothesized that anxiety measures would be associated with

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Q2
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Q3
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A. Weinstein et al. / Comprehensive Psychiatry xx (2014) xxxxxx

Mean Edwards Compulsive Buying Scale [15], Spielberger

Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) [22] Spielberger State Anxiety
Inventory (SSAI) and YaleBrown Obsessive Compulsive
Scale [32,33] and comparisons between men and women are
presented in Table 1.
A post-hoc comparison of all questionnaire measures
using independent t-tests between men and women found
non-significant difference on all measures (see Table 1 for
comparisons between males and females on questionnaire
measures). Specifically, the results demonstrate no sex
differences in compulsive buying [t(1,118) = 1.59; p = N.S].
Mean Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory (SSAI) measures
were higher in both men and women compared with the
American norms (see caption in Table 1 for means and norms
of STAI in the US [22].
Association between questionnaire measures:

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1. A moderate positive Pearson r correlation between

Edwards compulsive buying scale and Spielberger
Trait Anxiety Inventory r = 0.308; p b 0.001.
2. A positive Pearson r correlation between STAI anxiety and
Y-Bocs obsessivecompulsive score (r = 0.211; p b 0.01).

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4. Discussion

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Dittmar [28] have argued that there are three main features of
compulsive buying such as consumers experience an uncontrollable desire to buy, consumers cant control themselves
to buy, and consumers continue to buy without considering
bad impact on their lives financially and socially. Compulsive
buyers are obsessed by buying similar to the way drug or
alcohol-dependent individuals or behaviorally addicted individuals are addicted to the substance or the behavior they
depend on. They experience repetitive, irresistible and overpowering urges to purchase goods. These goods are frequently
useless and/or unused items [34]. Compulsive buyers often buy

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Correlations between mean Edwards Compulsive Buying

Scale [15], Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) [22]
Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory (SSAI) [22] and Yale
Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale [32,33] in all participants
are presented in Table 2.

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clothes from famous designers and top of the line items in order
to impress others. They also shop online more than control
subjects [26]. The Internet retail environment enables them to
be alone while accomplishing their addiction and it permits a
low to non-existent level of social interaction as it is free of
direct, face-to-face social contact. The ability to find information about the newest fashions on the Internet as well as being
able to receive continuous electronic updates about new
product offerings is an important incitation to prefer the
Internet. Purchase in real stores or on-line is for them a lonely
activity. Since, they are ashamed of their uncontrolled behavior,
they prefer buying on line to real stores. Compulsive buyers
do not want others (including family members) to see what,
how frequently, and how much they buy. Nevertheless, some
compulsive buyers admit that they buy alone because they
dont want to be stopped by anyone.
Retail compulsive buyers enjoy the interaction with shop
keepers and feeling valuable and beautiful, an interaction
which is lacking in internet shopping. Perhaps that enables
people who are highly anxious to enjoy such activity without
fear of shame and guilt that may be associated with real life
shopping. They consider the moment when they start buying
as their moment. In these cases, hedonic motives influence
shopping and pertain to the positive feeling (e.g. pleasure,
excitement) experienced while buying. Compulsive buyers
strongly focus on the buying process itself and are more
interested by acquisition than by possession or use of the
item purchased. This phenomenon is very similar to
gambling when gamblers report that the criterion is not
whether you won but how long have you managed to stay in
the gambling hall.
A recent study in Germany, using nationally representative samples, provides the first empirical confirmation that
compulsive buying increased significantly between 1991 and
2001 [35]. A recent study by Mueller [18] has investigated
the prevalence of compulsive buying and its association with
socio-demographic characteristics and depressive symptoms in a
nationally representative sample of the German population using
the Compulsive Buying Scale [31]. The prevalence of compulsive
buying in the weighted representative sample of 2350
participants was estimated to be 6.9% which was higher than
the American rate (5.8%). Secondly, no significant difference
was found between women and men (6.9% and 6.8%,
respectively) and age was inversely related to the prevalence

3. Results

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t1:1
t1:2

Table 1
Mean ECBS, STAI, and Y-Bocs questionnaire ratings in all participantsmean and (s.d).

t1:3

Questionnaire

Men (n = 50)

Women (n = 70)

Difference T-test

t1:4
t1:5
t1:6
t1:7

Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) [16]

Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory (SSAI) [16]
Edwards Compulsive Buying Scale [15]
YaleBrown Obsessive Compulsive Scale [4,5]

46.22 (6.48)
48.34 (4.66)
24.06 (4.7)
18.64 (5.49)

46.88 (5.36)
49.64 (4.5)
22.88 (4.08)
18.72 (2.84)

t
t
t
t

t1:8

*P b 0.05 ** P b 0.01 *** p b 0.001 n = 120.

Means and norms for the Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory [22]: The North American manual reports for sample of working adults: men had a mean
Spielberger STAI State score of 35.72 (SD = 10.40) and mean STAI Trait score of 34.89(SD = 9.19); women had a mean STAI State score of 35.20(SD = 10.61) and
a mean STAI Trait score of 34.79 (SD = 9.22).

t1:9

=
=
=
=

0.57 p = n.s
1.38; p = n.s
1.59 p = n.s
0.9; p = n.s

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Table 2
Pearson correlation coefficient between questionnaire variables in all participants.

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Q4
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r = 0.316 **

of compulsive buying. Thirdly, individuals with compulsive

buying reported more depressive symptoms. Finally, OteroLpez and Villardefrancos [19] studied 2159 participants in
Spain from the general population. Estimated prevalence
of compulsive buying was 7.1%. They have found that
women and younger people had a higher propensity for
compulsive buying. Furthermore, being female, experiencing
symptoms of anxiety, depression, and obsessioncompulsion,
and employing the passiveavoidance coping strategies of
problem avoidance, wishful thinking, and self-criticism, all
constituted risk factors for compulsive buying.
Compulsive buying is associated with co-morbid psychiatric conditions such as depression, OCD and eating disorders.
The results of this study showed a positive association between
Edward's compulsive buying scale [31] measures and
Spielberger trait [22] anxiety measures. These findings are in
accordance with studies showing co-occurrence of other
behavioral addictions with anxiety disorders. Co-occurrence
of anxiety disorders was found in adult problematic internet
users [36,37] and in adolescents and college students with PIU
in Taiwan [38,39]. Pathological and problem gambling has
also been associated with mood disorder and anxiety disorder
in South Korea [40]. It seems that compulsive buying is a
method of or tension or negative affect relief which disappears
after the shopping is ended. This pattern of stress relief is
similar to obsessive compulsive disorder in which the
repetitive behavior is served for anxiety or stress relief. Indeed,
the association between Spielberger trait anxiety [22] measures
with YaleBrown Obsessive Compulsive Scale [32,33] in
our study supports the association between compulsive buying
and OCD [7]. Compulsive buying is obsessivecompulsive
behavior which is mostly triggered by internal stimuli such as
mounting tension [2,4144].
The finding of comorbidity of compulsive buying and
anxiety adds to existing knowledge that behavior addictions
such as gambling and internet addiction have comorbidity
with anxiety, mood disorders and personality disorders. It
seems to indicate that individuals with behavioral addictions
use them to alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression. In
particular, in case of compulsive buying, it serves to enhance
good feelings and to alleviate the feelings of loneliness,
anxiety, and depression. Clinicians should take this finding
into account when treating this disorder, especially when
cognitivebehavioral or pharmacological treatment is concerned. Treatment of compulsive behavior requires handling
the obsessive compulsive aspect of this behavior and also

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r = 0.308 **
r = 0.34**

treating the underlying negative emotions that this behavior

is aimed to alleviate.
Limitations of this study include a relatively small
number of participants hence it was not possible to ascertain
true prevalence rates in the general population. Also in this
sample there were more women than men. Secondly, this is a
study of buyers on the internet that may not show high levels
of compulsive buying. Finally, an association or correlation
does not really explain causal factors in compulsive buying
and experimental studies need to demonstrate how compulsive buying is responsible for stress and anxiety relief or
pleasure and excitement during compulsive buying.
In conclusion, a small cohort of male and female habitual
internet buyers has shown an association of compulsive
buying with trait anxiety measures which were in turn
correlated with measures of obsessivecompulsive disorder.
In this group there were no differences between males and
females in measures of compulsive buying. Future studies
should investigate compulsive buying among internet
shoppers which is a growing segment of the population
that has unique characteristics compared to other types of
compulsive buyers.

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