People perceive parasocial relationships to be effective at fulfilling emotional needs

Shaaba Lotun; Veronica M Lamarche; Ana Matran-Fernandez; Gillian M Sandstrom

doi:10.1038/s41598-024-58069-9

People perceive parasocial relationships to be effective at fulfilling emotional needs

Sci Rep. 2024 Apr 8;14(1):8185. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-58069-9.

Authors

Shaaba Lotun^{1

2}, Veronica M Lamarche³, Ana Matran-Fernandez², Gillian M Sandstrom^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK.
² Brain-Computer Interfaces and Neural Engineering Lab, School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK. v.lamarche@essex.ac.uk.
⁴ School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, Sussex, BN1 9RH, UK.

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 (N_total = 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.

MeSH terms

Emotional Regulation*
Emotions
Friends
Humans
Loneliness
Social Media*