Parent versus child report of young children’s parasocial relationships in the United States

Abstract

This study examines parent perceptions of their young children’s one-sided, emotionally tinged relationships with media characters, also known as parasocial relationships (PSR). Prior research has collected data on young children’s PSR by surveying parents, while other studies have relied directly on child interview. The current study is the first to compare children’s answers to those of their parents. Factor analyses revealed that parents and children both reported three components of children’s PSR: social realism, attachment and character personification (parents) or attachment and friendship (for their children), and humanlike needs. Both parent and child reports accounted for approximately 60% of the variance in children’s PSR. Nonetheless, only approximately one-third of parents and children reported on the same favorite character. The implications for research on children’s PSR using both parent and child reports are discussed.

Keywords:

• Parasocial relationships
• media characters
• parent survey
• child interview
• young children

Acknowledgments

We are appreciative of the preschools, parents, and children who agreed to participate in this research. We also thank Dr. Bradley Bond for his conceptual guidance; Dr. Rusan Chen for his statistical analysis support; and the Children’s Digital Media Center research team, particularly Sana Charania and Audra Fitzgerald, for their assistance in data collection, entry, coding, and manuscript feedback.

Notes

1. Spanish-speaking children were given the option to complete the survey in Spanish, and 18 did so.

2. Spanish-speaking parents were also given the option to fill out the survey in Spanish, and seven did so.