AO3 - Absorption Addition Model of Parasocial Relationships

• Research to support the absorption addiction model of parasocial relationships comes from Maltby et al who studied adolescents aged 14-16 with poor body image to see if this predisposed the teenagers to forming parasocial relationships. He found that female adolescents formed intense-personal parasocial relationships with a female celebrity whose body shape they admired. This therefore supports the existence of levels of parasocial relationships and the idea of the absorption addiction model that a deficiency/poor mental health can predict the level/intensity of parasocial relationships.
• However, the research into parasocial relationships is also based on correlational research e.g. Maltby et al. Therefore, a cause and effect cannot be established between poorer psychological health and the level/intensity of parasocial relationships. For example, it could be that the borderline-pathological parasocial involvement has caused the poor psychological health, rather than the other way around. Therefore, this lowers the internal validity of the absorption addiction model in explaining the levels of parasocial relationships.