The Compulsive Online Shopping Scale (COSS) Development and Validation Using Panel Data
The Internet is one of the most influential forms of mass media having revolutionized human behavior, with people spending more and more time online. However, excessive Internet use, which is also termed as "Internet Addiction" can have negative consequences for an individual as well as the society in which they reside. This type of addiction is classified as behavioral addiction (DSM 5, American Psychiatric Association 2013) However, a group of American Psychiatric Association (APA) working members deemed insufficient research to consider additional behavioral addictions (e.g. compulsive buying) to be included in psychiatric nosology. Henceforth, one of the goals of this study is to shed light on what is considered "compulsive online shopping" to further support future DSM behavioral addiction classification modifications. The second goal of this study was to develop a compulsive online shopping scale (COSS) that is consistent with addiction criteria established in the DSM 5. And finally, we explored a few characteristic features related to compulsive online shoppers; both demographically and psychologically.
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction