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Introduction
Described as a consumer tendency to purchase products far more than one’s needs and resources, compulsive buying is an increasingly common dysfunctional consumer behavior associated with negative psychological and overall well-being (Rindfleisch et al., 1997; Kasser, 2002). Large-scale nationally representative studies estimate that approximately 6 per cent of adults are compulsive buyers (Koran et al., 2006; Maraz et al., 2016). Other research suggests that this is an underestimation and that compulsive buying is an increasingly prevalent behavior (Neuner et al., 2005; Ridgway et al., 2008).
The growing prevalence of compulsive buying could be harmful to societal well-being, and thus, warrants additional research attention. Compulsive shopping is associated with harmful consequences including social distress, financial debt and negative overall well-being (Dittmar, 2005a); however, it is less clear what leads to compulsive buying behaviors. Early research suggests that compulsive buying is rooted in early life experiences related to children’s family situations (Faber and O’Guinn, 1992; Rindfleisch et al., 1997). Despite the rise of compulsive buying, developments in the literature have been scant, with Dittmar’s research being among the only to offer a model of compulsive buying. Dittmar’s (2005a) two-factor model conceptualizes materialism and self-discrepancies as two important factors leading to compulsive buying. Other research suggests, however, that compulsive buying begins in the teenage years when individuals have less well-established family connections (Koran et al., 2006) and is reinforced and perpetuated with time (Richins, 2017). Dittmar’s (2005a, p. 488) research on compulsive buying did not focus on teenagers, but rather called for future in-depth research on compulsive buying among adolescents as compulsive buying is a “progressively more prominent feature of adolescence”.
The current research focuses on adolescents’ compulsive buying and presents a conceptual model of compulsive buying as an outcome of family conflict. Drawing from early research on family structure as a driver of compulsive buying, we blend two existing models of compulsive buying and offer a new model of adolescent compulsive buying. Our research contributes to the consumer literature on family dynamics by studying the impact of family conflict, rather than specific family circumstances (e.g. married or divorced parents), which have largely been the focus of extant research. As discussed next, mixed findings have been reported in the literature...