A Hierarchical Personality Approach Toward a Fuller Understanding of Onychophagia and Compulsive Buying

Purpose: Employing a hierarchical model of personality, prior research suggests that cardinal traits such as conscientiousness and agreeability predict central traits such as materialism and need for arousal that in turn impact surface traits such as onychophagia and compulsive buying. More research is needed to explore additional central traits and their effect on onychophagia and compulsive buying. Thus, the goal of the current research is to examine how another central trait—negative perfectionism—impacts onychophagia and compulsive buying. Design/Methodology/Approach: A survey was administered both online and face-to-face resulting in a sample of 634 subjects of which 391 were individuals with onychophagia. Through a multi-group analysis, a causal model was tested to identify personality traits and their relationship with compulsive buying. Results: Results showed that onychophagia was affected by other obsessive-compulsive disorders—particularly trichotillomania, and excoriation disorder, which significantly increased the likelihood that the participant was a compulsive buyer.