Viewer aggression and homophily, identification, and parasocial relationships with television characters

This study examined the antecedents of viewer relationships experienced with television characters. Based on social cognitive theory, we considered how trait aggression helped explain identification, homophily, and parasocial interaction with aggressive characters. Two hundred nineteen participants completed questionnaires measuring trait aggression and relationships with one of eight characters. We content analyzed portrayals of these characters to determine their levels of aggression. Results suggested viewer aggression predicted identification with aggressive characters, but did not predict homophily and parasocial interaction beyond the variance explained by gender. We also observed relationships among the dependent variables and differences between physical and verbal aggression.