Parasocial relationship termination: contextual and personality differences in the experience of parasocial breakup distress

Abstract

Parasocial relationships are the one-way relationships viewers form with characters within the media. Parasocial relationships can often result in a parasocial breakup, where the relationship no longer exists due to the character exiting the narrative, or the viewer ceasing to engage with the media. Parasocial breakup distress is accompanied by feelings of grief and overall distress. This study pulls from real world breakup literature to examine parasocial breakups in order to see if the context surrounding the parasocial breakup (character death, show canceled, viewer stops watching) plays a moderating role in the amount of parasocial breakup distress experienced. The results see that experienced parasocial breakup distress is moderated by context. Additionally, this study examines the moderating effect of attachment style and need for affect and finds that they do not have a moderating effect on the distress experienced.