購物可應對壓力 緩解死亡恐懼
It has long been hailed as the ultimate way to let off steam by some members of the fairer sex.
Now, U.S. scientists have discovered that not only does retail therapy exist, but that it could be caused by an individual's fear of sudden death.
Researchers found materialistic people find terrorism and war more stressful than others - and are more likely to spend compulsively to help them cope.
Psychologists believe the rise of materialism around the world and its therapeutic effect on extreme stress might be a response to fear of death caused by acts of terrorism, disease and natural disasters.
The scientists from Michigan State University said people with possession obsessions often have lower self-esteem than others so are more likely splurge in the wake of severe psychological trauma.
Ayalla Ruvio, a business professor who studied people's shopping habits while rockets fell in Israel, said: 'When the going gets tough, the materialistic go shopping.
'And this compulsive and impulsive spending is likely to produce even greater stress and lower well-being. Essentially, materialism appears to make bad events even worse.'
Dr Ruvio led a two-part study of Israeli citizens living in a town that came under extreme rocket attacks for about six months in 2007.
She compared 139 residents of the southern town with 170 from another town that was not under attack to see how their symptoms of post-traumatic stress and shopping habits varied.
Along with researchers from the University of Haifa in Israel and the University of Illinois, Dr Ruvio analysed the psychological condition of the two groups.
The psychologists found that, when faced with a mortal threat, those who where highly materialistic suffered much higher levels of post-traumatic stress, while their tendency to buy impulsively and compulsively was increased.
Dr Ruvio said: 'The relationship between materialism and stress may be more harmful than commonly thought.'
The second stage of their research, which was published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, surveyed 855 Americans about their materialistic nature and fear of death.
They found that shopping was used to relieve feelings of stress and anxiety about death among more materialistic people, but this was in response to fear of a variety of life-threatening events like car accidents, criminal attacks and natural disasters.女性喜歡通過購物緩解壓力。據英國《每日郵報》報道，科研人員發現，購物有助於應對心理壓力，緩解對死亡的恐懼，並且和物質主義思想有關聯。
研究發現，面對致命威脅，那些具有極高的物質慾望的人會遭受更大程度的創傷後壓力，強迫性衝動購物的傾向也增強了。
2007年，以色列一個小鎮遭遇了長達6個月的火箭彈襲擊。科研人員用鎮上137名居民進和另一個沒有遭遇襲擊的小鎮上170位居民進行對比，分析人們戰後壓力和購物習慣的變化。
項目帶頭人阿亞拉•魯維奧博士說：“當形勢變得糟糕時，物質主義者就會去購物。而這種強迫性衝動消費可能會產生更大壓力，並降低幸福感。從本質上說，物質主義者會讓本來已經糟糕的事變得更糟。”
在研究的第二階段，該團隊調查了855名美國人，分析他們的物質主義天性和對死亡恐懼。研究發現，大多數物質主義者用購物緩解壓力和對死亡的恐懼。魯維奧說：“物質主義和壓力之間的關係甚至比我們想象的更加有害。”
科研人員分別來自密歇根州立大學、以色列海法大學和美國伊利諾伊大學。
