Helena Jiang

Parasocial Relationships: An Overview, Focus on Specific Research, and Case Studies

Started June 29, 2023

Abstract or project description

This literature review looks at modern parasocial relationships, highlighting its importance in political engagement today. Because children are increasingly being given unlimited access to the internet at earlier and earlier ages (Laricchia, 2023) and escalating their internet usage, it is important to study social media and its influencers; specifically how they facilitate PSRs and how these PSRs may affect adolescents’ transition to adulthood. Early parasocial interactions or relationships may go on to influence children for the rest of their lives, especially during the critical period of adolescence when children begin to gain autonomy from their parents and turn towards the social sphere for support (Giles and Maltby, 2003). Political engagement and interest is especially important as political participation within adolescents has been declining (Eckstein et. al, 2012), and interaction with the democratic process has been below its peak (Levy and Akiva, 2019). Research suggests that parasocial relationships and interactions may be key to combating this decrease, through their predictive value (Cohen and Holbert, 2018), unconscious influence (Paraviti et. al, 2020), perceived intimacy from interpersonal tones on social media (Dunn and Nisbett, 2014), and when combined with source similarity and trustworthiness (Harff, 2022).