Premium
Who pays your debt? An important question for understanding compulsive buying among American college students
Author(s) -
Brougham Ruby R.,
JacobsLawson Joy M.,
Hershey Douglas A.,
Trujillo Kathleen M.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
international journal of consumer studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.775
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1470-6431
pISSN - 1470-6423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1470-6431.2010.00923.x
Subject(s) - purchasing , debt , credit card , psychology , personality , social psychology , marketing , finance , economics , business , payment
Compulsive buying, defined as the inability to control purchasing behaviour, is higher among college‐aged students than it is among the general public. The present study examined the factors related to compulsive buying among college students and how those factors differ as a function of who paid the majority of their debt: themselves or their parents. A total of 628 undergraduates from the US completed a questionnaire containing items to measure compulsive buying, personality and financial responsibility. Results revealed that variables predictive of compulsive buying varied depending on the amount of credit card debt that the student was personally responsible for paying. Findings have implications for reducing compulsive buying in college students.