Where you lead, I will follow: Developing a new measure for studying parasocial involvement with influencers
Parasocial involvement with influencers (PII) on social media has rapidly increased in recent years. Currently, little is known about the impact of this development, as psychometrically evaluated measurement instruments capturing nuances of PII are lacking. Building on theory and qualitative findin...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Masaryk University
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberpspace |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/38592 |
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| author | Johanna L Degen Diana Pistoll Andreas M. Brandmaier Sonja Bröning |
| author_facet | Johanna L Degen Diana Pistoll Andreas M. Brandmaier Sonja Bröning |
| author_sort | Johanna L Degen |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Parasocial involvement with influencers (PII) on social media has rapidly increased in recent years. Currently, little is known about the impact of this development, as psychometrically evaluated measurement instruments capturing nuances of PII are lacking. Building on theory and qualitative findings, we developed the 39-item Parasocial Influencer Involvement Scale (PIInS), which shows good internal consistency. It comprises seven subscales empirically substantiated by factor analysis and captures different dimensions of parasocial influencer involvement, such as gratification, self-soothing, identification and loyalty, comparison, self-expansion, social influence, and emotional bonding. A first validation study in a convenience sample of n = 484 individuals participating in an online survey provided preliminary evidence for construct validity. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in a second study with n = 443 participants largely confirmed the structure of the scale found in Study 1. The PIInS was negatively associated with attachment security, relational identity centrality, and self-expansion. Also, parasocial involvement with influencers was positively linked with social identity centrality and empathy in parasocial processing. A multiple regression analysis revealed that attachment anxiety, empathy during parasocial interactions, social identity centrality, and the absence of relational identity centrality had the strongest predictive value for parasocial influencer involvement. These findings point toward potential psychological mechanisms and related risks of parasocial involvement with influencers and emphasize the need for prevention and further research.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-58d5b01cf26f47eb93fb0efcaf5db5b1 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1802-7962 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Masaryk University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberpspace |
| spelling | doaj-art-58d5b01cf26f47eb93fb0efcaf5db5b12025-08-20T03:28:13ZengMasaryk UniversityCyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberpspace1802-79622025-06-01193Where you lead, I will follow: Developing a new measure for studying parasocial involvement with influencersJohanna L Degen0Diana Pistoll1Andreas M. Brandmaier2Sonja Bröning3Department of Psychology, Europa-Universität Flensburg, Flensburg, Germany Department of Psychology, Faculty of Human Sciences, Medical School Hamburg (MSH), Hamburg, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, MSB Medical School Berlin, Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Human Sciences, Medical School Hamburg (MSH), Hamburg, Germany Parasocial involvement with influencers (PII) on social media has rapidly increased in recent years. Currently, little is known about the impact of this development, as psychometrically evaluated measurement instruments capturing nuances of PII are lacking. Building on theory and qualitative findings, we developed the 39-item Parasocial Influencer Involvement Scale (PIInS), which shows good internal consistency. It comprises seven subscales empirically substantiated by factor analysis and captures different dimensions of parasocial influencer involvement, such as gratification, self-soothing, identification and loyalty, comparison, self-expansion, social influence, and emotional bonding. A first validation study in a convenience sample of n = 484 individuals participating in an online survey provided preliminary evidence for construct validity. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in a second study with n = 443 participants largely confirmed the structure of the scale found in Study 1. The PIInS was negatively associated with attachment security, relational identity centrality, and self-expansion. Also, parasocial involvement with influencers was positively linked with social identity centrality and empathy in parasocial processing. A multiple regression analysis revealed that attachment anxiety, empathy during parasocial interactions, social identity centrality, and the absence of relational identity centrality had the strongest predictive value for parasocial influencer involvement. These findings point toward potential psychological mechanisms and related risks of parasocial involvement with influencers and emphasize the need for prevention and further research. https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/38592parasocial involvmentparasocialitysocial mediainfluencer-follower relationshipsparascial attachment |
| spellingShingle | Johanna L Degen Diana Pistoll Andreas M. Brandmaier Sonja Bröning Where you lead, I will follow: Developing a new measure for studying parasocial involvement with influencers Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberpspace parasocial involvment parasociality social media influencer-follower relationships parascial attachment |
| title | Where you lead, I will follow: Developing a new measure for studying parasocial involvement with influencers |
| title_full | Where you lead, I will follow: Developing a new measure for studying parasocial involvement with influencers |
| title_fullStr | Where you lead, I will follow: Developing a new measure for studying parasocial involvement with influencers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Where you lead, I will follow: Developing a new measure for studying parasocial involvement with influencers |
| title_short | Where you lead, I will follow: Developing a new measure for studying parasocial involvement with influencers |
| title_sort | where you lead i will follow developing a new measure for studying parasocial involvement with influencers |
| topic | parasocial involvment parasociality social media influencer-follower relationships parascial attachment |
| url | https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/38592 |
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