College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Term of Award

Spring 2026

Degree Name

Master of Science in Experimental Psychology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Lawrence Locker Jr.

Committee Member 1

Joshua Williams

Committee Member 2

Jonathan Roberts

Abstract

Celebrity worship is a psychological phenomenon characterized by intense admiration and emotional attachment toward a celebrity figure and is often associated with parasocial commitment. The present study examined associations among celebrity worship, parasocial commitment, loneliness, fandom engagement, and perceived similarity with a favorite celebrity in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 237) at a southeastern United States university. Participants completed the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS), the Multidimensional Measure of Parasocial Relationships (MMPR), the UCLA Loneliness Scale, a fandom engagement measure derived from Stever’s (2011) conceptualization, and a perceived similarity measure (PSIM). Celebrity worship was positively correlated with parasocial commitment, fandom engagement, perceived similarity, and loneliness. Fandom engagement was positively correlated with loneliness and showed strong associations with both parasocial commitment and perceived similarity, suggesting overlap between participatory fandom involvement and one-sided celebrity attachment in this sample. Moderation models yielded no evidence that loneliness influenced the relationship between parasocial commitment and celebrity worship nor that fandom influenced the relationship between loneliness and celebrity worship. Overall, these findings support the centrality of parasocial commitment, fandom involvement, and identification processes in celebrity worship while suggesting that fandom engagement may not function as a protective factor against loneliness in this context.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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Available for download on Friday, April 09, 2027

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