Abstract
The purpose of this study to analyse whether compulsive buying in teenagers is related to gender and alcohol and cannabis use in a sample of 573 students aged 14–17 from secondary education schools in Burgos (Spain) (M = 15.65; SD = 1.04). Random cluster sampling was performed to select the sample. The Compulsive Buying Questionnaire was used together with two extra promts: ‘Indicate how much alcohol you consume’ and ‘Indicate how much cannabis you take’. Descriptive statistics were used in data analysis, while MANOVA was used to study gender differences in alcohol and cannabis use, compulsive buying and their interaction. The results show higher scores for female compulsive buyers than for men, higher scores for alcohol and cannabis users’ compulsive buying than for non-users, respectively, and higher scores for female users than for male users. A certain interaction was also observed between alcohol and cannabis use. A higher alcohol consumption entailed a higher score in compulsive buying, with cannabis users who did not consume alcohol obtaining the highest scores. Thus, prevention programmes should consider teenagers’ gender and the risk of taking toxic substances.
Highlights
Addiction has historically been associated with drug use in the population’s collective imagination
The goal of the present study is to fill this gap by detecting the prevalence of adolescents’ compulsive buying depending on gender and age and its concurrence with alcohol and cannabis abuse in order to determine any possible interaction among these variables
Multivariate analysis was performed to determine the influence of gender, age, alcohol and cannabis use and the interaction among them on the surveyed teenagers’ compulsive buying habits
Summary
Addiction has historically been associated with drug use in the population’s collective imagination. The concept has been redefined to no longer be limited to behaviour generated by uncontrollable substance use but to cover apparently harmless behaviour habits which may, in certain circumstances, become addictive and seriously affect the addicted individuals’ daily life [1]. Beyond any disorders related to substance abuse, the concept of addiction must be widened to cover any addiction disorders not related to substance abuse [4,5]. There is an increasing interest in studying behavioural addictions, as increasing numbers of people have become concerned by such problematic attitudes, given their variety and general prevalence [6] Any regular activity which turns out to be pleasurable for a given individual may turn into a harmful behaviour when the latter loses self-control over such an activity and continues to do it despite the wide range of adverse implications involved, giving rise to an obsession—a constant and unavoidable desire that becomes the main interest or activity of the subject, who eventually puts the other activities aside [3].
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