Oct 2, 2006

Compulsive shopping

Study: Men almost as likely to shop till they drop as women

By Mark Abramson

A new Stanford University School of Medicine study may be a warning to women - ladies, don't let your man get a hold of your credit cards.

According to the study appearing in the October issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, 6 percent of the women and 5.5 percent of the men surveyed suffered from compulsive buying disorder, which is also known as compulsive shopping disorder. Researchers surveyed 2,153 adults by telephone and asked questions about their demographics and buying attitudes and behaviors. They found more than one in 20 adults in the United States are compulsive shoppers.

Questions in the survey included how often a respondent has intrusive thoughts about shopping and what kind of problems shopping has caused that person.

"The importance of doing a study like this is to really start addressing this issue as a problem," said Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, the study's co-author and director of Stanford School of Medicine's Impulse Control Disorders Clinic.

Researchers described the disorder as having a senseless impulse to buy, in which a person may go on shopping binges to buy unwanted and unnecessary items. The study indicated compulsive shoppers are more likely to be within a few hundred dollars of their credit card limits and four times as likely as other respondents to make the minimum payments on their bills.

Shoppers at Stanford Shopping Center, however, had mixed opinions about the results.

"I believe it's lower numbers for men," said Emilio Nazario, of Redwood City. "Women have more time to shop."

Men also do not spend as much time in stores because they go in with a plan, he said.

Others agreed with the study's findings.

"It's not surprising," said Ed Johnson, of Palo Alto. "We live in a consumer community and shopping has become kind of a sporting event."

Although the disorder may lead to snazzier wardrobes or having the latest and greatest electronic gadgets, researchers warn that it could come with a steep price.

"Compulsive buying leads to serious psychological, financial and family problems, including depression, overwhelming debt and the breakup of relationships," said study co-author Dr. Lorrin Koran. "People don't realize the extent of the damage it does to the sufferer."

Females compulsive shoppers tend to fill their closets with clothes, often buying items as gifts for other people or things for themselves that they may not even wear, Aboujaoude said. Male compulsive shoppers go for electronics and tools.

"I'm not too surprised, that's exactly what I was thinking; (men buy) electronics," said Charles White, of Palo Alto, as he took a break from shopping at Stanford Shopping Center.

Before the study, the researchers estimated that 2 to 16 percent of the country's population were compulsive shoppers and that 90 percent of them were women. Other findings of the study showed that compulsive shoppers tended to be younger adults who earn less than $50,000 a year.

"The most surprising part of the study was the prevalence (of compulsive shopping among men and women). It's pretty widespread," Aboujaoude said. "I think men are less likely to admit to having the problem, and men are less likely to come in for help."

E-mail Mark Abramson at mabramson@dailynewsgroup.com.