Stress, Coping, and Shopping: Exploring Behavioural Responses

Abstract

Stress is an inherent part of human experience, arising from different sources such as environmental pressures, academic challenges, and personal life events etc. It manifests as a physiological response to perceived threats, impacting individual’s daily lives and necessitating adaptive adjustments. Coping with stress is essential for an individual in maintaining mental and physical well-being. Coping strategies vary among individuals; one intriguing coping mechanism that has garnered attention is "Retail therapy". This study explores how shopping serves as a coping strategy and sheds some light on its role in stress management by female PG students of GBPUAT, Pantnagar as well as its impact on mental and emotional well-being. This study uses the Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale, Carver’s Brief COPE Scale and for assessing shopping behavior, questions derived from Martinez-Lopez’s study in 2016. Correlation is the main data analysis technique used in this research. The results revealed that coping strategies play a key role in stress management, while stress levels are inversely related to shopping behavior.