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. 2022 Jun;125(3):1457-1468.
doi: 10.1177/00332941211002142. Epub 2021 Mar 25.

An Attachment Perspective on Favorite Media Figures

A Luke MacNeill  1 , Enrico DiTommaso  1
Affiliations

An Attachment Perspective on Favorite Media Figures

A Luke MacNeill et al. Psychol Rep. 2022 Jun.

Abstract

Anxiously attached individuals tend to report stronger parasocial relationships with their favorite media figures than people with other attachment orientations. Researchers have suggested that these individuals may be inclined to see their favorite media figures as safe and secure attachment figures. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate this possibility by assessing the qualities of people's favorite media figures, particularly within a television context. A sample of 200 online participants filled out an attachment measure, reported their favorite television figure, and rated several aspects of the television figure's personality. It was expected that anxiously attached individuals would be drawn to figures that are high in warmth, emotional stability, and sensitivity. Instead, results showed that these individuals preferred figures with greater anxious and insecure characteristics. These results suggest that anxiously attached individuals may not see their favorite media figures as safe and secure attachment figures as previously theorized. Exploratory analyses failed to show significant effects for the second attachment dimension, attachment avoidance, or for the interaction between anxiety and avoidance.

Keywords: Attachment theory; attachment anxiety; media figures; parasocial relationships.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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