Intimate relationships and attitudes toward celebrities

Abstract

Previous research indicates that persons who self-report a high level of preoccupation with celebrities tend to have lower levels of well-being. We administered the "Romantic Partner Conflict Scale", the "Love Attitudes Scale", the soulmate subscale from the "Relationship Theories Questionnaire", and the anxiety subscale from the "Experiences in Close Relationships Scale" to 330 students from four universities to see how well scores on these measures would predict scores on each of the three subscales from the "Celebrity Attitude Scale" (CAS). We predicted that persons whose scores on these measures of intimate relationships indicated a troubled, anxious, or poor quality relationship would have higher scores on the CAS, especially on its two problematic subscales. In three multiple regressions, specific measures of behavior during conflict with a romantic partner and certain love styles significantly predicted scores on all three of the CAS subscales. We discuss the implications of being a celebrity worshiper on one's relationship with an intimate partner.

FANatics: Systematic literature review of factors associated with celebrity worship, and suggested directions for future research

“…In this study, for participants from the USA, 'game-playing' love style was associated with intense-personal CWalthough the two appeared unrelated in participants from India. McCutcheon et al (2016e) noted relationships between intense-personal CW and both 'practical' and 'dependent' love; entertainment-social CW and 'practical' love; and 'game-playing' love and both intense-personal and borderline-pathological CW, although these did not retain significance in a multiple regression. McCutcheon et al (2016e) found that participants with higher scores on all three dimensions of CW reported higher levels of dominance, submission, separation, and interactional reactivity during conflict with a romantic partner; higher anxiety in intimate relationships; and were more likely to endorse soulmate beliefs.…”

“…African-American participants tended to choose African-American celebrities as their favoured celebrities, while white participants tended to choose white celebrities. McCutcheon et al (2016e) found that non-white participants scored higher on entertainment-social and intensepersonal CW.…”

The association of celebrity worship with problematic Internet use, maladaptive daydreaming, and desire for fame

“…Second, intense-personal dimension (i.e., moderate level of celebrity worship) represents intense and compulsive feelings toward one’s favorite celebrity (e.g., loss of control over recurring thoughts about a celebrity) ( McCutcheon, Aruguete, Jenkins, McCarley, & Yockey, 2016 ; McCutcheon et al., 2002 ). This dimension has been associated with neuroticism ( Maltby et al., 2003 ), symptoms of depression and anxiety ( Maltby, McCutcheon, Ashe, & Houran, 2001 ), somatic symptoms ( Maltby et al., 2004 ), poor-quality relationships ( McCutcheon, Gillen, Browne, Murtagh, & Collisson, 2016 ), and concerns about body image ( Maltby & Day, 2011 ; Swami, Taylor, & Carvalho, 2009 ). Third, borderline-pathological dimension reflects extreme attitudes and behaviors toward a celebrity that are considered as maladaptive forms of admiration (e.g., if one’s favorite celebrity asked the person to do something illegal as a favor, he/she would do it; McCutcheon, Aruguete, Jenkins, et al., 2016 ; McCutcheon et al., 2002 ).…”

Celebrity Worship on Early Adult K-Pop Fangirling

“…The three participants admitted that the relationship was only limited to idols and fans but the third participant hoped that her future husband would be similar to her idol in terms of both appearance and attitude. Mccutcheon, Gillen, Browne, & Murtagh, (2016) individuals who experience celebrity worship show maladaptive daydreaming, indicating that individuals with an extensive fantasy activity are more likely to be obsessed with celebrities. These psychological constructs have several similarities; for instance, both had a positive association with fantasy proneness.…”