Facts.

   Hoarder vs. Clutterer.

   Possible Causes.

People easily jump to the conclusion that people who Hoard must have some background in which they have been deprived of material things, which would seem logical or rather give an explanation that can be more easily accepted or understood.
Studies by Dr. Frost and others, looked into the link between the Material Deprivation in Childhood and Hoarding Behavior.
While this showed no positive co- relation, they did find that there seems to be a tendency for Hoarders to report some material deprivation.
Since the studies were unable to make a clear enough relationship between both it is considered to be only a minor factor.

There is also a whole range or reasons of why people Hoard, such as finding it difficult to make decisions, finding it difficult to categorize, finding it difficult to give a clear value to an object.
Some of these will be further discussed in the next section Why and What People Hoard.

What could be a plausible factor is the parents displaying some Hoarding Problems. Seems that OCD can be prevalent in families. Whether this adds up to Hoarding being Genetically determined is not yet proven, nor whether it's a Learned Behavior or the combination of both.

In all, this is clearly a disorder that has yet to be thoroughly researched. Little is really known in a factual way but people are trying to find out more and more about the why's and as importantly about how help can be given.