Heterogeneity within compulsive buyers: a Q-sort study.

Objectives: This study investigated how compulsive buyers make sense of their excessive shopping behaviour to explore possible sources of heterogeneity between compulsive buyers.

Method: Twenty female participants met 'caseness' for compulsive buying (CB) on the CB Scale (CBS), prior to completing a Q-sort specifically related to their experiences of shopping. Participants provided details of occupation, income, and debt levels and completed two psychometric scales: the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale-Shopping Version (YBOCS-SV).