An Exploration of Exaggerated Identity Theft Fears in Hoarding

Introduction: Individuals with hoarding symptoms often report laborious routines of reviewing and destroying paperwork prior to discarding, citing fears of identity theft if personal information is discarded. While fears of identity theft seem likely to be elevated in hoarding disorder, it is unclear if these fears are elevated beyond what is normative for older adults, and whether such fears may be related to third factors. Method: In the current study we sought to explore whether fears of identity theft were higher among 103 individuals high in hoarding symptoms as compared with 59 non-hoarding controls. We also sought to examine whether higher fears of identity theft were attributable to third factors such as increased past exposure to identity theft victimization, respondent age, or higher perfectionism scale scores. Results: Findings suggested that individuals in the hoarding group reported higher fears of identity theft, but not significantly higher history of exposure to victimization. Other variables such as age, Frost Perfectionism Scale subscale scores, and co-occurring anxiety and depression symptoms did not appear to explain the relationship between hoarding and increased fears of identity theft, suggesting it may have some specificity to hoarding.

引言：有囤积症状的个体常自述，在丢弃纸质文件前需经历繁琐的审阅与销毁流程，其理由是担忧丢弃个人信息后遭遇身份盗用。尽管囤积障碍患者的身份盗用恐惧程度似乎更高，但目前尚不明确此类恐惧是否超出老年人的正常水平，也不清楚这类恐惧是否与第三类混杂因素相关。方法：本研究旨在探讨103名高囤积症状个体的身份盗用恐惧水平是否高于59名非囤积对照者。同时，本研究还试图检验更高的身份盗用恐惧是否可归因于第三类混杂因素，例如既往身份盗用受害经历、受访者年龄，或更高的完美主义量表得分。结果：研究结果显示，囤积组个体报告的身份盗用恐惧程度更高，但既往受害经历并未显著增多。年龄、弗罗斯特完美主义量表（Frost Perfectionism Scale）各维度得分，以及共病焦虑与抑郁症状等其他变量，似乎并未解释囤积与身份盗用恐惧升高之间的关联，这表明该关联可能与囤积症状具有一定特异性。