Compulsive buying and borderline personality symptomatology.

In this study, the authors investigated the relationship between compulsive buying and borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptomatology--two disorders possibly linked through impulsivity. Using a survey methodology in a cross-sectional consecutive sample of nonemergent female outpatients from an obstetrics/gynecology clinic, the authors assessed compulsive buying with the compulsive buying scale (CBS) and BPD symptomatology through the BPD scale of the personality diagnostic questionnaire-4 (PDQ-4) and the self-harm Inventory (SHI). In this sample, 8% of Caucasian women and 9% of African-American women scored positively for compulsive buying. The correlations between scores on the CBS and the PDQ-4 and SHI were 0.43 and 0.41, respectively-both statistically significant at the p < .001 level. Compared to Caucasian women, African-American women demonstrated statistical associations between the BPD measures and the CBS scale scores that were significantly larger. Findings suggest relationships between compulsive buying and BPD, particularly among African-American women.