Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Apr 8;14(1):8185.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-58069-9.

People perceive parasocial relationships to be effective at fulfilling emotional needs

Shaaba Lotun  1   2 , Veronica M Lamarche  3 , Ana Matran-Fernandez  2 , Gillian M Sandstrom  1   4
Affiliations

People perceive parasocial relationships to be effective at fulfilling emotional needs

Shaaba Lotun et al. Sci Rep. .

Erratum in

Abstract

People regularly form one-sided, "parasocial" relationships (PSRs) with targets incapable of returning the sentiment. Past work has shown that people engage with PSRs to support complex psychological needs (e.g., feeling less lonely after watching a favorite movie). However, we do not know how people rate these relationships relative to traditional two-sided relationships in terms of their effectiveness in supporting psychological needs. The current research (Ntotal = 3085) examined how PSRs help people fulfil emotion regulation needs. In Studies 1 and 2, participants felt that both their YouTube creator and non-YouTube creator PSRs were more effective at fulfilling their emotional needs than in-person acquaintances, albeit less effective than close others. In Study 3, people with high self-esteem thought PSRs would be responsive to their needs when their sociometer was activated, just as they do with two-sided relationships.

Keywords: Emotion regulation; Parasocial relationships; Responsiveness; Self-esteem; Social media.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Differences between targets on perceived need fulfilment, responsiveness, and closeness for Study 1. Error bars reflect the standard error.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Differences between targets on perceived need fulfilment, responsiveness, and closeness for Study 2, for YouTube PSRs (left) and non-YouTube PSRs (right). Error bars reflect the standard error.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The condition by self-esteem interaction predicting perceived responsiveness of the PSR in Study 3. Self-esteem is mean centered. High and low self-esteem are plotted at ± 1 SD from the mean respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Epley N, Akalis S, Waytz A, Cacioppo JT. Creating social connection through inferential reproduction: Loneliness and perceived agency in gadgets, gods, and greyhounds. Psychol. Sci. 2008;19(2):114–120. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02056.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Horton D, Wohl R. Mass communication and para-social interaction: Observations on intimacy at a distance. Psychiatry. 1956;19(3):215–229. doi: 10.1080/00332747.1956.11023049. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jonason PK, Webster GD, Lindsey AE. Solutions to the problem of diminished social interaction. Evol. Psychol. 2008;6(4):147470490800600410. doi: 10.1177/147470490800600410. - DOI
    1. Sherrick B, Hoewe J, Ewoldsen DR. Using narrative media to satisfy intrinsic needs: Connecting parasocial relationships, retrospective imaginative involvement, and self-determination theory. Psychol: Pop. Media; 2021.
    1. Gabriel S, Valenti J, Young AF. Social surrogates, social motivations, and everyday activities: The case for a strong, subtle, and sneaky social self. Adv. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 2016;53:189–243. doi: 10.1016/bs.aesp.2015.09.003. - DOI