Relationship between anxiety and structured consumption

Abstract

Anxiety has increased over the past few years around the world. Past studies have found that individuals seek structure to cope with their anxiety. Anxiety has also been found to predict kiasuism and the need for closure. On the other hand, kiasu individuals and individuals with high NFC have been reported to seek greater structure in social situations. To introduce tangible boundaries, the literal measure of structure, as a possible coping mechanism for anxiety, this present study investigates the effect of anxiety on the preference for tangible boundaries and attempts to explain this relationship through the mediators, kiasuism and the need for closure. Participants (N = 45) were undergraduates from Nanyang Technological University. It is hypothesized that anxiety increases the need for preference for boundaries and this relationship can be mediated by kiasuism and the need for closure. Results from this study supported the positive correlation between anxiety and the preference for tangible boundaries as well as validated the need for closure as a mediator of the relationship, albeit a weak one. Implications of the findings, limitations of the current study, and future research directions were discussed.