The investigation got about three major seeks: (1) to look at adolescents’ choices of news figures and you may famous people getting parasocial attract, (2) to explore the fresh incidence and construal off PSR inside a teenager take to, and you will (3) to ascertain if gender distinctions emerged within the teenage parasocial techniques. With respect to adolescents’ choices of media figures and you may famous people, we hypothesized one to very outstanding superstars, such as stars and you may designers, might possibly be frequently mentioned, having straight down cost of endorsement to possess non-aesthetic a-listers otherwise deceased media data. I plus expected telecommunications between particular star picked plus the characteristics adolescents of this all of them, in that KГјba gГјzel kadД±n highly visible stars is of this appearance, while athletes and low-performers is appreciated due to their strengths. Having PSR, we expected puberty who involved with PSR to help you report a whole lot more hierarchical than simply egalitarian relationships, but into the total amount you to definitely adaptation seemed, we questioned hierarchical PSR to-be of adore of a celebrity’s talent and egalitarian PSR getting on the appearance. We as well as expected PSR become of the large involvement, intensity, and you may resource in the parasocial affairs. As for gender distinctions, we requested greater approval of players among boys and performers certainly one of girls, highest rates of involvement, strength, and you will PSR inside girls than simply boys, as well as boys in order to comprehend its superstars due to their speciality a whole lot more tend to than simply girls. Lastly, we expected girls getting far more personal about their parasocial facts than boys.
Players
The initial sample was 107 girls (Mage = , SD = 0.35) and 61 boys (Mage = , SD = 0.42) in ninth grade at a public high school in a US Northeastern suburb. However, seven girls (6.5%) and eight boys (13.1%) did not identify a celebrity of whom they were particularly fond, so the final sample included 100 girls (Mage = , SD = 0.35) and 53 boys (Mage = , SD = 0.38). This ratio reflects the gender ratios in much of the research on PSI (Cohen, 1999, 2003, 2004; Cole and Leets, 1999; Maltby et al., 2006; Derrick et al., 2008, 2009). Adolescents were 73% Caucasian, 12% Asian, 8% Biracial, 2% Latino, 2% African-American, and 1% Native-American (2% chose “Other” or did not respond), and approximately 75% had at least one parent who had graduated college. Participation (72.3%) was solicited through a letter and consent form sent to parents through the school. Participants received a $5 gift certificate for ice cream, and the school received a donation. This study was carried out with the approval of and in accordance with the recommendations of the Wellesley College Ethics Review Board with written informed consent from parents and assent from all participants in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Methods
A study treated regions of (PSI/PSR) including identification off stars selected to have parasocial attention in addition to variety and you will adaptation in the quasi-relationship envisioned with your famous people. We investigated if star vocation or relationship envisioned was indeed connected with the characteristics adolescents respected within their picked stars, including psychological and you may behavioral manifestations out of PSI/PSR, such as for instance participants’ level of wedding during the parasocial points, the fresh psychological concentration of the action, the work in finding away about their selected celebs, and you can if they common their interest on these mass media figures having family and friends. Professionals had been earliest requested to spot an exact same-sex superstar from which they were such as happy (“Extremely adolescent girls/boys has actually a popular star otherwise popular profile regarding Tv, flick, or pop community: and therefore Women/Men Star are you presently instance fond of?”). g., Derrick et al., 2008).
Superstar Particular
Media data titled was in fact categorized into the five superstar sizes: step one = stars, dos = sports athletes, 3 = singers, cuatro = standard stars (age.g., talk let you know servers Oprah), and you can 5 = editors. Stars that suit to your several groups (elizabeth.g., Oprah is also an actress) was indeed coded according to classification in which they certainly were best identified. One or two separate coders obtained the responses; precision try large (kappa = 0.92). Disputes have been solved because of the discussion.