The use of scientific scales dates back to the 1880s when Sir Frances Galton created the first personality test. Since then, all sorts of scales have been developed that help researchers conduct studies and operationalize a target behavior they are wanting to test or modify. We can also use those scales to help us understand ourselves a bit better. I wanted to take some time today to look at one of these scales (the Online Shopping Addiction Scale developed by Haiyan Zhao, Wei Tian, and Tao Xin in 2017) and how helpful it might be to determine if our Online Shopping is a tool that we use to improve our lives, or if it might have become a problem.

First, let’s look at the items on the scale (each of which you would answer with 1 = completely disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neither disagree nor agree, 4 = agree, and 5 = completely agree).

Salience

• When I am not shopping online, I keep thinking about it

• I frequently think about how to spare more time or money to spend in online shopping

• Online shopping is important for my life

Tolerance

• Recently, I have an urge to do more and more online shopping

• I spend more and more time in online shopping

• Recently I often shop online unplanned

Mood modification

• When I feel bad, online shopping can make me feel good

• When I am feeling down, anxious, helpless or uneasy, I shop online in order to make myself feel better

• Online shopping can help me to temporarily forget the troubles in real life

Withdrawal

• When I can't do online shopping for certain excuses, I will get depressed or lost

• Life without online shopping for some time would be boring and joyless for me

• I will feel restless or depressed when attempting to shop online but unable to achieve

Relapse

• I have tried to cut back or stop my online shopping, but failed

• I have decided to do online shopping less frequently, but not managed to do so

• If I cut down the amount of online shopping in one period, and then start again, I always end up shopping as often as I did before

Conflict

• My productivity for work or study has decreased as a direct result of online shopping

• I have once quarreled with my parents/spouse/partner for my online shopping

• I have cut off my time with parents/spouse/partner and friends for my online shopping

The researchers administered the scale to over 800 college students in China alongside the Edward's Compulsive Buying Scale (Ridgway et al., 2008) and the Internet Addiction Test (Young, 1998). They found that the scale did reliably detect levels of Online Shopping Addiction (see Results section of their article here to get into the nitty gritty of it). They specifically found that Online Shopping Addiction “is more than a form of internet addiction. In nature, it is a form of shopping addiction and addicts use the internet mainly to fulfill their problematic shopping inclination” (Zhao, Tian, & Xin, 2017, emphasis added). Thus while there is overlap between Internet Addiction and Online Shopping Addiction, there is something unique about this compulsive shopping online that lends to problematic behavior.

Now, we do not have any normative scoring data yet… so we cannot say reliably that if you score X number on the scale, that means you are definitely addicted. However, we can use this scale as a guide to see if our online shopping has tendencies into addictive behaviors.

My suggestion? Scroll back up… read over those bullet points.. and honestly ask yourself:

1. How true is this item/sentence for me?

2. What would I prefer to change about this item/sentence for me?

If you are needing help with this or know someone who does, give me a call/email. If I am not a good fit, I will help find someone who is!

DrZepeda@FinancialTherapyTexas.com

Phone: 713-291-9553