IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v8y2011i10p4025-4038d14433.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Considering the Definition of Addiction

Author

Listed:
  • Steve Sussman

    (Departments of Preventive Medicine and Psychology, University of Southern California, Soto Street Building, Room 302, 2001 N. Soto Street, Los Angeles, California 90032, USA)

  • Alan N. Sussman

    (2329 Winthrop Avenue, Apt. 60, Roanoke, Virgina 24015, USA)

Abstract

The definition of addiction is explored. Elements of addiction derived from a literature search that uncovered 52 studies include: (a) engagement in the behavior to achieve appetitive effects, (b) preoccupation with the behavior, (c) temporary satiation, (d) loss of control, and (e) suffering negative consequences. Differences from compulsions are suggested. While there is some debate on what is intended by the elements of addictive behavior, we conclude that these five constituents provide a reasonable understanding of what is intended by the concept. Conceptual challenges for future research are mentioned.

Suggested Citation

  • Steve Sussman & Alan N. Sussman, 2011. "Considering the Definition of Addiction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-14, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:8:y:2011:i:10:p:4025-4038:d:14433
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/8/10/4025/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/8/10/4025/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steve Sussman & Adam Leventhal & Ricky N. Bluthenthal & Marilyn Freimuth & Myriam Forster & Susan L. Ames, 2011. "A Framework for the Specificity of Addictions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Hirschman, Elizabeth C, 1992. "The Consciousness of Addiction: Toward a General Theory of Compulsive Consumption," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 19(2), pages 155-179, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Deborah Louise Sinclair & Steve Sussman & Maarten De Schryver & Cedric Samyn & Sabirah Adams & Maria Florence & Shazly Savahl & Wouter Vanderplasschen, 2021. "Substitute Behaviors following Residential Substance Use Treatment in the Western Cape, South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Jasmine Cheung & Deborah Neyle & Peggy Pik Kei Chow, 2021. "Current Knowledge and Behavior towards Salt Reduction among Hong Kong Citizens: A Cross – Sectional Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Rosendo Berengüí & José María López-Gullón & Salvador Angosto, 2021. "Physical Sports Activities and Exercise Addiction during Lockdown in the Spanish Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-13, March.
    4. Steve Sussman & Deborah Louise Sinclair, 2022. "Substance and Behavioral Addictions, and Their Consequences among Vulnerable Populations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-5, May.
    5. Sheila Yu & Steve Sussman, 2020. "Does Smartphone Addiction Fall on a Continuum of Addictive Behaviors?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-21, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kukar-Kinney, Monika & Ridgway, Nancy M. & Monroe, Kent B., 2012. "The Role of Price in the Behavior and Purchase Decisions of Compulsive Buyers," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 63-71.
    2. Li, Xiuping & Lu, Qiang & Miller, Rohan, 2013. "Self-medication and pleasure seeking as dichotomous motivations underlying behavioral disorders," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(9), pages 1598-1604.
    3. Zoya Kotelnikova, 2014. "Consumption Of Counterfeit Alcohol In Contemporary Russia: The Role Of Cultural And Structural Factors," HSE Working papers WP BRP 47/SOC/2014, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    4. Pilar Rojas Gaviria, 2012. "Three essays on how sharing and consuming support home place reconnection in contemporary liquid times," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/209597, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    5. Compeau, Larry D. & Monroe, Kent B. & Grewal, Dhruv & Reynolds, Kristy, 2016. "Expressing and defining self and relationships through everyday shopping experiences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 1035-1042.
    6. Fullerton, R. A. & Punj, G., 2004. "Repercussions of promoting an ideology of consumption: consumer misbehavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(11), pages 1239-1249, November.
    7. Manolis, Chris & Roberts, James A., 2008. "Compulsive buying: Does it matter how it's measured?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 555-576, August.
    8. Utgård, Jakob & Nygaard, Arne & Dahlstrom, Robert, 2015. "Franchising, local market characteristics and alcohol sales to minors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2117-2124.
    9. Barnes, Stuart J. & Pressey, Andrew D., 2014. "Caught in the Web? Addictive behavior in cyberspace and the role of goal-orientation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 93-109.
    10. Sirgy, M. Joseph & Lee, Dong-Jin & Yu, Grace B. & Gurel-Atay, Eda & Tidwell, John & Ekici, Ahmet, 2016. "Self-expressiveness in shopping," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 292-299.
    11. Shakaib Farid, Dania & Ali, Mazhar, 2018. "Effects of Personality on Impulsive Buying Behavior: Evidence from a Developing Country," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 5(1), pages 31-43.
    12. Hope Jensen Schau & Melissa Archpru Akaka, 2021. "From customer journeys to consumption journeys: a consumer culture approach to investigating value creation in practice-embedded consumption," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(1), pages 9-22, June.
    13. Donald R. Lehmann & Jeffrey R. Parker, 2017. "Disadoption," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 7(1), pages 36-51, June.
    14. Steve Sussman & Adam Leventhal & Ricky N. Bluthenthal & Marilyn Freimuth & Myriam Forster & Susan L. Ames, 2011. "A Framework for the Specificity of Addictions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-17, August.
    15. Bradford, Tonya Williams & Grier, Sonya A. & Henderson, Geraldine Rosa, 2017. "Weight Loss Through Virtual Support Communities: A Role for Identity-based Motivation in Public Commitment," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 9-23.
    16. Aline Degorre & Jean-Philippe Galan & Magali Giraud, 2015. "Contrôle, flow et propension à payer : une application à l'expérience de jeu vidéo," Post-Print hal-02885119, HAL.
    17. Luis C. Farhat & Zu Wei Zhai & Rani A. Hoff & Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin & Marc N. Potenza, 2022. "An Exploratory Study of Shopping to Relieve Tension or Anxiety in Adolescents: Health Correlates and Gambling-Related Perceptions and Behaviors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-20, May.
    18. Mick, David Glen & Spiller, Stephen A. & Baglioni, Anthony J., 2012. "A systematic self-observation study of consumers' conceptions of practical wisdom in everyday purchase events," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(7), pages 1051-1059.
    19. Kenneth W. Griffin & Lawrence M. Scheier & Bianca Acevedo & Jerry L. Grenard & Gilbert J. Botvin, 2011. "Long-Term Effects of Self-Control on Alcohol Use and Sexual Behavior among Urban Minority Young Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-23, December.
    20. Fry, Marie-Louise, 2011. "Seeking the pleasure zone: Understanding young adult’s intoxication culture," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 65-70.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    definition; addiction;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:8:y:2011:i:10:p:4025-4038:d:14433. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.