Adult Attachment and Parasocial Relationships: The Influence of Relational Investment and Hedonic Enjoyment

Abstract

Previous research has examined parasocial relationships under the scope of adult attachment theory. It has been shown that while attachment theory was originally designed in the context of human interpersonal relationships, it is also applicable to the relationships people develop with fictional characters. This study consisted of three main aims. The first was to replicate previous findings of the dynamic between attachment and several facets of parasocial engagement. Secondly, this research aimed to expand upon parasocial theory by examining how investment into a relationship may affect the dynamic between attachment and parasocial engagement. Finally, this study investigated hedonic enjoyment as a potential moderator between attachment and parasocial engagement. 218 participants completed an online questionnaire, which consisted of psychological instruments that aimed to measure attachment style, personality traits, trait transportability, parasocial relationship, parasocial interaction, character identification, relational investment, and hedonic enjoyment. Participants were also asked to choose and name one favourite and one neutral character, as well as report on demographic variables. The results of this study suggests that anxiously attached individuals were more likely to form stronger parasocial bonds and become immersed into narratives. Avoidantly attached individuals were less likely to form parasocial bonds, and would mainly become immersed in narratives when they were also highly anxious. Relational investment did not moderate the association between attachment and parasocial relationship as was originally predicted. Hedonic enjoyment also did not show evidence of a moderation effect between attachment and parasocial relationship, contrary to initial predictions. The findings from this study align with a complementary framework of parasocial engagement, where people would form bonds with fictional characters in a similar manner to real-life relationships. This largely concurs with prior research. The novel elements of this study did not yield significant results in line with the predictions but provided avenues for future parasocial research.