This may come as little surprise to most people: In times of crisis, women are more likely to take a shopping spree than in normal times.

    A new survey finds almost half of UK women are frightened or scared by the recession, and 45 percent felt their financial situation had taken a hit. A full 75 percent said they would be making cutbacks.

    Yet 79 percent of them said they would splurge to cheer themselves up.

    Of the 700 women surveyed, 40 percent said depression was an excuse to overspend; 60 percent said "feeling a bit low" was a good enough reason.

    "This type of spending, or compensatory consumption, serves as a way of regulating intense emotions," said Karen Pine, a University of Hertfordshire professor and author of "Sheconomics" .

    The itch to shop has long been known to overwhelm some people, either because of simple materialism or to compensate for emotional problems. Many researchers liken it to addiction, and some think it has been a growing problem in the modern consumerism society.

    The problem is likely not confined to women. A 2006 study in the United States found 6 percent of women have it so bad they are labeled compulsive buyers, but so are 5.5 percent of men.

    Pine says this compensatory behavior could become more pronounced in a recession. People use drugs and alcohol similarly to regulate emotions, Pine explains, but she thinks shopping is increasingly employed by women for this purpose. And, paradoxically, worrying about money could lead women to spend more, she said.

    "If shopping is an emotional habit for women they may feel the need to keep spending despite the economic downturn," said Professor Pine. "Or, perhaps worse still, if they can't spend we might see an increase in mental health problems such as anxiety and depression."

    Problem is, the splurges don't always have the intended effect.

    About 25 percent of the women surveyed said shopping sprees in the week prior to being surveyed left them with feelings of regret, guilt or shame.

    Sounds a lot like other addictions, Pine said.

    也許大部分人都覺得不足為奇：女性在經濟危機時期反而比平時更愛購物了。

    一項最新調查顯示，近半數英國女性對經濟危機感到害怕或驚恐，45%的受訪女性認為經濟狀況嚴重惡化。另外足有75%的受訪者稱將縮減開支。

    而79%的受訪女性表示，她們將瘋狂購物以便換個好心情。

    在參與調查的700位女性中，40%的人稱壓抑是瘋狂購物的借口，60%的人稱“感到有些低落”是一個充分理由。

    赫特福德大學教授、《女性經濟議題》一書的作者凱倫•派恩說：“這種消費類型，或稱為補償性消費，可以調節緊張的情緒。”

    不管是出于純粹的物欲還是為了調節情緒，人們早已了解到有些人的購物欲望是無法克制的。很多研究人員認為這相當于上癮，一些人認為在現代消費社會中這一問題愈加明顯。

    并非只有女性受此困擾。2006年美國開展的一項調查表明，6%的女性是“購物狂”，她們被稱為“強迫購買者”，但有5.5%的男性也是如此。

    派恩表示，在經濟衰退時期這種補償購買行為會更加明顯。他解釋道，人們同樣還會吸毒或者酗酒來調節情緒，但她認為越來越多的女性以購物來調節情緒狀態。而矛盾的是，越擔心沒錢，女性花得就越多。

    派恩教授說：“如果購物是女性的一種情感習慣，那么就算有經濟危機，她們還會覺得應該繼續消費。或者更糟的是，如果她們不能消費了，那么焦慮和壓抑等精神健康問題有可能激增。”

    而問題在于瘋狂購物并不一定能達到預期效果。

    大約25%的受訪女性稱，調查前一周的瘋狂購物令她們感到后悔、內疚或者羞愧。

    派恩稱，這和很多其它上癮行為的后果類似。