Hopelessness and loneliness as predictors of older adults' involvement with favorite television performers

This study examined viewer involvement by investigating the relationships between parasocial interaction, wishful identification, identification, and interest, and hopelessness and loneliness among older participants (M age = 63 years). Results indicate that parasocial interaction and interest in favorite performer were closely related and that wishful identification and identification were closely related but that parasocial interaction and interest were not strongly associated with wishful identification and identification. Furthermore, the cognitive, affective, and motivational dimensions of hopelessness predicted different types of viewer involvement in different directions. Finally, loneliness predicted wishful identification and frequency of exposure was not related to involvement.