Prediction of Interpersonal Cognitive Distortions based on the Worship of Celebrities and Parasocial Interaction with Them

Background and Purpose: The fascination with celebrities and the parasocial interaction with them can be effective in interpersonal cognitive distortions. In this regard, the present study aimed to predict interpersonal cognitive distortions based on the worship of celebrities and parasocial interaction with them. Method: The present research is descriptive and correlational. The statistical population of the study consisted of high school students in the first district of Rasht city in the academic year 2018-2019. The sample consisted of 200 male and female students of the eighth and ninth grades who were selected by convenience sampling method. The scales of interpersonal cognitive distortions (Hamamci & Büyüköztürk, 2004), celebrity attitude (McCutcheon, Lange & Houran, 2002), and celebrity parasocial interaction (Bocarnea & Brown, 2007) were used to gather the data. Multiple stepwise regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed that the parasocial interaction (ß= 0.27) at the significance level of 0.05 and celebrity worship (β= 0.30) and its subscales including entertainment-social (ß= 0.13), intense-personal (β= 0.14), and borderline-pathological (ß= 0.65) at the significant level of 0.01, were able to predict interpersonal cognitive distortions in adolescents Conclusion: The results showed the possibility of predicting interpersonal cognitive distortions based on the worship of celebrities and parasocial interaction with them. The implications of the results are discussed in the paper.