A new survey suggests that six percent of adults experience bouts of compulsive buying that may "leave them saddled with debt, anxiety, and depression." And while it was previously thought that compulsive buying is a predominantly female condition, the recent research shows that it may be just as common in men. To collect the data, Stanford University psychiatrist Lorrin M. Koran interviewed more than 2,500 people over the phone. From Science News:
Compulsive buying, as defined by a high score on a tally of the cardinal signs, occurred in 6 percent of women and 5.5 percent of men, regardless of racial or ethnic background, Koran's group says. Compulsive buyers averaged 40 years of age, compared with 49 years for the other participants. A majority of compulsive buyers reported annual incomes under $50,000, whereas only 39 percent of the others reported incomes in that category.
Compulsive buyers reported having the same number of credit cards as other participants did. However, compulsive buyers tended to stretch credit card limits thin, often to within $100 of the maximum. Compulsive buyers also preferred to make minimum payments on credit card balances, regardless of their annual incomes.
