Prevalence of compensative and compulsive buying.

The study concerns the development of compensative and compulsive buying in Poland comparing the results of three waves of a cross-sectional study conducted before and at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six predictors of susceptibility to compensative and compulsive buying are in focus: materialism, self-esteem, gender, age, frequency of online shopping, and experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the importance of the first four predictors in explaining compensative and compulsive buying is already very well described in the literature, while the novelty consists in the predictive model including the variables that describe frequency of online shopping and negative experiences related to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as coronavirus infection, hospitalization or death of a loved one. On the one hand, a stronger susceptibility to compensative and compulsive buying could be a reaction to these negative experiences of the pandemic; on the other hand, the increased frequency of online shopping as a result of the pandemic may be an important factor in the development of compensative and compulsive buying due to the easy implementation of purchase acts and weaker social control. To achieve the above research objectives, the German Compulsive Buying Indicator (GCBI) was used to measure susceptibility to compensative and compulsive buying. The data were obtained within three waves of the study (2010, 2019, 2022) based on a random sample of about 1,000 respondents representing statistically the general adult population. Drawing on this study, the prevalence of compensative and compulsive buying is observed at 12–19% and 2–4%. The predictors of GCBI are materialism, self-esteem, gender in all examined models and additionally age, frequency of online shopping, and experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in selected models. Although the findings related to the role of materialism, self-esteem, and gender in the prediction of GCBI reflect the results reported in the literature, the analogous conclusions about age, online shopping, and experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic are different from the established opinions. The commonly reported effect of age becomes statistically significant when the examined population is limited to Gens Y and Z. Although extensive online shopping co-exists with compensative and compulsive buying in the total population, the obtained data lead to reverse conclusions in the case of women’s subpopulation representing Gens Y and Z. The negative experience with the COVID-19 pandemic operationalised as hospitalization of a close friend predicts GCBI, but again only in the case of representatives of Gens Y and Z, especially among women. The findings show how important the creation of appropriate intervention strategies is within the consumer policy directed to representatives of the younger generations who may develop pathological buying as a response to negative experiences such as COVID-19 pandemic. The findings can inform of the goals behind therapeutic support for compulsive buyers, and implications for social work. People affected by excessive compensative or compulsive buying need to be given opportunities to build up their strengths and growth of their psychological resources towards healthy self-esteem, which seems to be the best protection against excessive compensative and compulsive buying.本研究聚焦波兰地区补偿性与强迫性购买行为的发展轨迹，对比了新冠疫情前后开展的三轮横断面研究结果。本研究重点关注影响补偿性与强迫性购买易感性的六大预测因素：物质主义、自尊水平、性别、年龄、网购频率，以及新冠疫情相关经历。不过，前四类预测因素对补偿性与强迫性购买行为的解释力已在现有文献中得到充分阐释，本研究的创新之处在于其预测模型纳入了网购频率与新冠疫情负面经历（如本人感染新冠、住院治疗或挚爱之人离世）相关变量。一方面，补偿性与强迫性购买易感性的提升可能是对疫情负面经历的应激反应；另一方面，疫情催生的网购频次增长，由于购买行为门槛更低且社会监督弱化，可能成为推动补偿性与强迫性购买行为发展的重要因素。为达成上述研究目标，本研究采用德国强迫性购买量表（German Compulsive Buying Indicator, GCBI）来评估补偿性与强迫性购买的易感性。研究数据来源于三轮横断面调研（分别于2010年、2019年、2022年开展），样本为约1000名随机抽取的受访者，在统计学上能够代表波兰成年总人口。本研究观测到补偿性与强迫性购买行为的患病率分别为12%~19%与2%~4%。在所有检验模型中，GCBI的预测因素均包含物质主义、自尊水平与性别；在部分特定模型中，还额外纳入了年龄、网购频率以及新冠疫情相关经历作为预测变量。尽管物质主义、自尊水平与性别对GCBI的预测作用这一研究结果与现有文献结论一致，但关于年龄、网购行为以及新冠疫情经历的类似结论却与学界既有观点存在差异。当研究样本限定为Y世代与Z世代群体时，年龄的普遍报道效应才具备统计学显著性。尽管在全体受访者中，高频网购与补偿性、强迫性购买行为呈共存关系，但针对Y世代与Z世代女性亚群体的分析却得出了相反的结论。以“挚友住院治疗”为操作化指标的新冠疫情负面经历，可显著预测GCBI得分，但这一效应同样仅存在于Y世代与Z世代群体中，尤以女性群体为甚。本研究结果表明，针对年轻群体制定针对性干预策略具有重要意义——这类群体可能因新冠疫情等负面经历而产生病理性购买行为。本研究结果可为强迫性购买群体的治疗支持目标制定提供参考，同时对社会工作实践具有借鉴意义。受过度补偿性或强迫性购买行为困扰的人群，需要获得机会培养自身优势、积累心理资源以建立健康的自尊水平，而这似乎是抵御过度补偿性与强迫性购买行为的最佳屏障。