Compulsive buying and mental health: what drives female office workers to shop

Background Compulsive buying behaviour (CBB) is a growing concern with detrimental impacts on mental health. Females’ mental health, compared with males, is reported to be increasingly affected by CBB. Despite existing research on CBB, the mental health factors influencing it remain understudied, especially among this demographic in urban settings. Aims To explore differences in mental health between females with high and low CBB; to evaluate the effects of stress, anxiety and depression on CBB in female urban office workers, and whether mental well-being mediates these relationships. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted with 369 female office workers, aged 20–50 years, living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Data were collected using online surveys distributed via social media platforms. The study used the Compulsive-Buying Index (CBI), the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and the World Health Organization-Five Well-being Index (WHO-5). Data were analysed using SPSS 25.0 and SmartPLS 4 to assess the relationships among variables and the mediating effect of well-being. Results Stress and anxiety were significantly higher among those with higher CBB. Additionally, significant findings revealed that stress and well-being both positively predicted CBB ( β = 0.43, p < 0.001 and β = 0.15, p = 0.010 respectively). Well-being was found to mediate the indirect relationship between depression and CBB ( β = −0.08, p = 0.018), whereas anxiety had no significant effect. Stress and well-being explained 23.3% and 12.9% of the variance in well-being and CBB respectively. Conclusions The study shows that both stress and well-being directly influence CBB, whereas depression has an indirect effect via well-being, highlighting multifaceted relationships between mental health and CBB.