Abstract
This study examined the relationships among children's age, parasocial interaction, and the social realism of children's self-reported favorite television characters. Children (N = 183) aged 5–12 were surveyed to determine their favorite television character and the strength of the parasocial interaction with that character. Television characters were independently coded for social realism. Results revealed that older children tended to report favorite characters that were more socially realistic, age related negatively to parasocial interaction, and social realism was positively associated with parasocial interaction. Implications for future research are discussed.
Notes
Rosengren and Windahl (Citation1972) term the four possible media responses in typology as follows: detachment (low identification-low interaction), solitary identification (high identification-low interaction), parasocial interaction (low identification-high interaction), and capture (high identification-high interaction).
It was fairly easy for coders to determine whether or not a character appeared real. The lower reliability for behavior was mainly due to a lack of familiarity with the characters and the shows on which they appear, rather than any special difficulty in determining the social realism of a character's behavior.
The five new parasocial interaction items are as follows: