Compulsive Buying Disorder among Medical Undergraduate Students from Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: People’s purchasing capacity has been increasing in recent years due to greater accessibility enabled by smartphones and mobile applications. But at the same time, it becomes a routine activity and an uncontrollable means to buy things and leads to a disorder called compulsive buying disorder (CBD). The objectives of the present study were to estimate the prevalence of CBDs and to identify the risk factors associated with it among undergraduate medical students. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the representative sample of 293 undergraduate medical students from Phase I MBBS to Phase III MBBS Part 2 in a private medical college in Karnataka. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic information, and the Richmond Compulsive Buying scale was used to measure CBD prevalence. Bivariate analysis was conducted to identify the risk factors associated with CBD. Results: Among 293 study participants, 60 (20.3%) have CBD. Students staying away from their parents, students spending money not accounted for by their parents, year of study, pocket money provided by parents per month, being tempted by offers or deals, habit of saving money, and students having a savings account or a recurring account, were found to be significantly associated with CBD. Conclusions: This study identified social media, poor saving habits, and other factors as risk factors related to CBD. The goal is to recognize these risk factors and address CBD in its early stages to prevent long-term financial and psychological consequences. In medical colleges, awareness programs and mental health support systems should be integrated, and parents should be counseled to avoid CBD in children.