Dragon Syndrome: Introducing a Novel Construct Describing Emotional and Identity-Based Responses to Viewing Valued Personal Items

Abstract

Compulsive buying disorder is a behavioral addiction driven by mood regulation through purchasing behaviors. Current research focuses heavily on pre-purchase, and moment of purchase, but vastly ignores the post-purchase emotional experience. Thus, this study introduces the novel construct of Dragon Syndrome, a psychological construct aiming to capture emotional and identity-based responses to the viewing of valued possessions. 185 undergraduate students took a survey, consisting of a pilot Dragon Syndrome Scale, and other scales measuring: compulsive buying, the Big Five traits, narcissism, and self-esteem. To analyze results, an Exploratory Factor Analysis, Correlation Matrix, and Hierarchical Regression was conducted. Through these analyses, the Dragon Syndrome Scale was found to have a strong internal consistency (α = .86). Additionally, the EFA found a primarily unidimensional model, with evidence of secondary identity and attachment factors. Dragon Syndrome was found to be moderately associated with compulsive buying disorder, weakly associated with agreeableness and neuroticism, and weak to moderately associated with narcissism. All other personality traits, along with self-esteem, were found to be non-significant. The hierarchical regression identified compulsive buying and narcissism to be the strongest predictors of Dragon Syndrome, with personality traits contributing to minimal variance, and self-esteem being non-predicative. Thus, indicating Dragon Syndrome is more complex than an individual's personality, insecurities, or consumer behavior. Dragon Syndrome shows strong convergent validity, as there are significant correlations to compulsive buying and narcissism, furthermore, there is also strong discriminant validity, as Dragon Syndrome remains distinct from self-esteem, and broad personality traits. These results provide preliminary evidence of this construct and demonstrate its significance for continued research. Dragon Syndrome expands on consumer psychology by asking what process happens post-purchase, which may aid in the understanding of compulsive buying cycles and identity-based attachment to possessions. Moving forward, this construct requires further validation and replication.