Beloved Bingeable Breakups? The Impact of Binge Watching on Retrospective Imaginative Involvement, Parasocial Relationships, and Parasocial Breakups

ABSTRACT

Binge watching represents a relatively new means of engaging with television narrative that fundamentally changes how we relate to stories and characters on screen. The present study was designed to examine how binge watching indirectly impacts parasocial breakups through retrospective imaginative involvement, and positive and negative parasocial relationships. We also examined how the liking of a given character (liked vs. disliked) may moderate these indirect paths. We conducted a quantitative mixed-design study to explore these effects. We found that binge watching positively predicted RII, which positively predicted positive, but not negative, PSR. Both positive and negative PSR positively predicted parasocial breakup intensity. Character liking moderated the indirect path through positive PSR, but not through negative PSR. These results and their implications are discussed in detail.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The original scale consisted of 13 items, but we removed one that discussed the character’s future appearances on the show, given the context of the study.

2. Character liking was not standardized, as it is a dichotomous variable.