Socio-economic status, delay of gratification, and impulse buying

Contemporary high levels of consumer debt and bankruptcy suggest reconsideration of hypothesized middle-class delay of gratification. Theories of self-identity in post-industrial society propose that norms supporting impulse control and delay of gratification have weakened in favor of present-oriented expression of impulse. Previous research on socio-economic status, delay of gratification, unplanned and "impulse" buying is reviewed, and a conceptual model differentiating akratic impulse buying from compulsive impulse buying is proposed. Survey data from a US national sample of adults with a self-reported measure of impulse buying are analyzed and a legit model fit to the data. The results do not fit the middle-class delay of gratification model: Higher levels of impulse buying were found to be associated with "some" college (or other post high school) educational experience, controlling for age and gender: family income was not found to be related to impulse buying. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.