Gender is part of one’s identity
Gender is part of one’s identity, which can be represented through masculinity, femininity, and neutrality. Different to gender, sex only focuses on biological factors and is determined by genes which cannot be changed. Gender socialization discusses learning of attitudes and behaviour that is considered appropriate for a particular sex. Socialization refers to how infants begin acquiring the skills that are necessary for performing as the functioning of their society’s member and is one of the important learning processes an individual can experience. In this paper, I will be discussing the compulsive buying disorder then give reasons as to why the treatment of the disorder should be based on gender.
People with Compulsive buying disorder are typified by shopping excessively, and their behaviour of purchasing items usually leads to either impairment or distress. In the population of the United States of America, the percentage prevalence of the disorder is approximately 5.9%. Most subjects who have been examined in various clinics are women. The approximate percentage of American women and men who are suffering from the disorder is 80% and 20% respectively. However, this gender difference may vary. Often, CBD victims tend to be preoccupied with purchasing items, anxiety, the tension before buying items and a feeling of relief after buying the intended goods. Researchers such as (Weinstein et al., 2015), applied the Spielberger Trait or the Anxiety Inventory Scale and Yale-Brown Obsessive–Compulsive scale (Y-Bocs) as the research method to measure the association between both anxiety and compulsive –buying disorder. They discovered that CBD has a strong association with anxiety disorders. Other disorders which are associated with the CBD include eating disorders, disorders related to substance use, Axis II disorder-even though the shopping personality isn’t distinctive and all impulse disorders. This disorder usually tends running in families whose members are addicted to substance use and possess mood swings.
The formal definition of compulsive-buying disorder is the repetitive desire for continuous buying. Its first description debuted in the clinics in the early ’20s. The first scholars to describe it were Bleuler and Kraepelin who included extensive research about it in their books. According to Bleuler, CBD is impulsive insanity’s example, alongside kleptomania. After the work from these researchers was read, the interest of people towards knowing the roots and effects of the disorder swiftly started growing. Until now, the disorder is studied and described globally, with many countries releasing many reports about it. As noted earlier, many clinical and community-based surveys have revealed that the number of women suffering from the disorder is more extensive compared to men. This is based on the fact that women tend to enjoy carrying out shopping a lot. Others even do it as their hobby. Men, on the other hand, have a lesser interest in purchasing items. Their work is to “collect”. The age at which the CBD starts to appear in people is often during the early twenties. Notably, this is the age that most American teens establish their credit accounts for the first time.
Even though longitudinal studies of the CBD are not as many as such, Vast clinical findings from various researchers that treatment of the disorder is somehow complicated and could significantly alter the regular operation of the victim, mainly their behaviour of compulsive shopping. However, many argue that clinical findings are biased as they favour severity. Nevertheless, shreds of evidence have shown that in addition to the CBD running in families, the subjects display depression, loneliness, uncontrollable and stressful. Some even spend extra money on shopping in an attempt to relieve their stress.
The compulsive buying disorder’s clinical symptoms
- CBD throughout the year. However, its occurrences tend to increase during holiday celebrations such as Christmas, other crucial holidays and during birthday celebrations. Subjects are reported to display a wide range of behaviour that includes returning purchased items, failure to unwrap the bought items, selling the purchased items or even giving the purchased items to someone else as a gift.
- A large number of those suffering from the disorder tend to have median to low-income earners. Additionally, the likelihood of those victims with more severe symptoms to have additional disorders such as comorbid, Axis I and Axis II is higher. This implies that CBD’s more severe forms are associated with low-income earners, whose ability to control or delay impulse buying is low.