Buying-Shopping Disorder and Partnership Satisfaction

Abstract

The current study aimed at investigating partnership status and quality in 46 patients with buying-shopping disorder (BSD) and 46 healthy control participants. The Pathological Buying Screener (PBS) was used to assess the symptom severity of BSD. The German version of the Quality of Marriage Index (QMI-D) measured partnership satisfaction. With 23 patients with BSD (50%) and 31 control participants (67%) in partnerships, there was no significant group difference regarding partnership status (χ2(1) = 2.87, p = 0.090, ϕ = 0.18). In both groups, QMI-D scores were not related to BSD symptoms (PBS scores). In patients with BSD, partnership satisfaction was negatively correlated with BSD duration. Although the results of this cross-sectional study do not indicate an association between BSD and partnership satisfaction, the inverse relationship between partnership satisfaction and BSD duration calls for longitudinal research on the role of partnership satisfaction in the disorder’s progression.