title: Different facets of compulsive buying among Chinese students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Compulsive buying is a severe phenomenon, especially among younger consumers. It is well documented in Western industrial societies like the USA and Germany, and nowadays an increasing interest in compulsive buying in non-Western countries is on the rise.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the current study, we measured the prevalence of compulsive buying tendencies among Chinese female and male students by using a Chinese translation of the German Compulsive Buying Scale (Raab, Neuner, Reisch & Scherhorn, 2005). We examined the influence of gender, location and age using ANCOVA, and binary logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Factor analysis identified three factorial dimensions of compulsive buying tendencies which are impairment of impulse control and reactive or compensatory aspects, reduced rationality according to money spending, and post-purchase guilt. Our results indicated that about 6.7% of the sample shows a compulsive buying pattern, and that females are more affected. For location, a geographic difference between Chongqing and Fuzhou was found for the overall compulsive tendencies, but not for the percentages of compulsive buyers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In sum, the existing study provides evidence that Chinese consumers have a factorial structure which differs somewhat in compulsive buying from Western samples. Observations about gender and location were considered. These findings give a deeper understanding of China’s compulsive buying behavior.
authors.affiliation: Southwest University of Chongqing School of Psychology Tiansheng Road Chongqing China.
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: University of Applied Sciences Institute of International Management Studies Ludwigshafen Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Unger
authors.affiliation: Southwest University of Chongqing School of Psychology Tiansheng Road Chongqing China.
authors.forename: Chongzeng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D003192:Compulsive Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Chinese university students; German Compulsive Buying Scale (GCBS); compulsive buying; dimensionality of compulsive buying