Caracterización de la identidad digital en estudiantes chilenos de ciencias de la salud. Un estudio de caso según género / Self-discrepancy and compulsive buying in Chilean university students

RESUMEN

Resumen El consumo se ha instaurado en las sociedades posmodernas como un medio regulador de las relaciones sociales. En este contexto, la compra compulsiva se establece como patológica y genera un malestar psicológico significativo en las personas, al punto de deteriorar el funcionamiento social y profesional. A esto se suman graves problemas económicos como producto del endeudamiento. Bajo este escenario, los jóvenes son particularmente sensibles, ya que con el consumo acceden a objetos simbólicos que forman parte de su construcción de identidad. Una dimensión relacionada con la compra compulsiva y el acceso al consumo bajo elementos simbólicos es la discrepancia del yo, la cual establece la distancia entre quién soy y quién me gustaría ser de acuerdo a patrones sociales que motivan el consumo como extensión del sujeto y materialización de la propia identidad. En base a lo anterior, la presente investigación tiene por objetivo determinar el efecto de la discrepancia del yo sobre las actitudes hacia la compra compulsiva en estudiantes universitarios chilenos. A través de una regresión lineal múltiple se aprecia que la discrepancia del yo físico (belleza), económico y el sexo son predictores significativos de la compra compulsiva. De igual manera, se observa que las mujeres son un grupo con mayores puntuaciones en cuanto a las compras compulsivas que los hombres, las cuales pueden verse mayormente afectadas por el contexto, y las campañas de marketing pueden influir en una mayor brecha entre el yo real y el yo ideal.

ABSTRACT

Abstract Consumption has been established in postmodern societies as a means of regulating social relations. In this context, compulsive buying could be established as pathological, creating significant psychological discomfort in people, to the point of impairing social and professional functioning, coupled with serious economic problems resulting from indebtedness. Along the same lines, in the construction of a social identity and a socially shared reality, consumption patterns arise that are linked to what the public should be and what they want to be. Therefore, while compulsive buying has been conceptualized for decades, it is a substantial threat to psychological and financial well-being. Few studies have explored the link between self-discrepancy and compulsive buying within an identity construction context. In this scenario, it is young people who become particularly sensitive, since with consumption they access symbolic objects that are part of their identity construction and a dimension related to compulsive buying. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that access to the consumption of symbolic elements is self-discrepancy. That is why this research aims at determining the effect of the self-discrepancy on attitudes towards compulsive buying in Chilean university students. The study uses a quantitative, correlational, and non-experimental cross-sectional design. Study sample was comprised of 1 229 Chilean university students, who responded to the scale of attitudes towards consumption, the self-discrepancy scale, and answered questions for sociodemographic characterization including gender (male/female), age, geographical area of residence (rural/urban), people with whom they live, and whether they have any bank credit cards. Prior to data collection, a letter was sent to Faculty Deans and Program Directors of all the universities associated with the Council of Rectors of Chile; these letters described the aims of the study, and requested information and authorization for the distribution of the instrument previously described. It is important to indicate that, after this, a random sampling process was initiated, after which each participant was contacted, so that they could sign an informed consent form, thus ensuring the anonymity ethical guidelines of the study. The data was processed through SPSS version 22 software, looking for the presence of univariate and multivariate outliers through Z-scores and Mahalanobis distance. A descriptive analysis of the variables was then carried out based on the dispersion, central trend and shape measurements. Subsequently, the data was analysed through bivariate statistics through Pearson correlations, to indicate into empirical relationships between compulsive purchase as a dependent variable and sociodemographic variables (sex and bank credit card holding) and the dimensions associated with the self-discrepancy (intellectual, physical, physical beauty, personal, social, emotional and economic) as independent variables. Once the behaviour of the variables was observed, a hierarchical multiple linear regression was performed. Regarding the results of this research, multiple linear regression shows that physical self-discrepancy (beauty), economic self-discrepancy and gender are significant predictors of compulsive buying. Similarly, it is noted that women are a group with higher scores in terms of compulsive purchases than men, which may be mostly affected by the context, where marketing campaigns can influence a greater gap between the real self and the ideal self.