Parasocial relationships with celebrities: An illusion of intimacy with mediated friends

Abstract

This research looked at parasocial interactions among college students. The study looked at the differences in gender and parasocial interaction, ethnicity/race and parasocial interaction, and the type of entertainment the celebrity was in and parasocial interaction. The research looked at celebrities as themselves and not as the characters they play as previous studies have. The research consisted of a revised parasocial interaction scale along with basic demographic questions. Although there have been studies examining levels of worship among different celebrities, they have been no correlations or differences stated concerning parasocial interactions. In addition, there has been no previous research stating the differences among ethnic/racial groups and parasocial interactions. Research on gender differences has yielded inconclusive results. This study found the difference in gender and parasocial interaction to be significant. However, ethnicity/race and the type of entertainment the celebrity was in were not significant in relation to parasocial interaction.

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