Loneliness, Gender, and Parasocial Interaction: A Uses and Gratifications Approach

This study investigates how unfulfilled interpersonal needs due to loneliness are met by mediated communication, specifically through parasocial interaction. Emotional (family and romantic), social, chronic, situational, and transient loneliness are differentiated. Different types of loneliness are expected to predict different uses of parasocial interaction, with gender serving as a moderator of these effects. Based on a college-student sample ( N = 154), social loneliness was negatively related to the use of parasocial interaction. Gender interacted with family, romantic, and chronic loneliness in predicting parasocial interaction. For women, greater family loneliness predicted greater parasocial interaction, whereas for men the effect was negative. For men, greater chronic loneliness led to more parasocial interaction, whereas for women this effect was negative. Finally, for men, greater romantic loneliness was associated with less parasocial interaction, whereas for women this relationship was slightly positive. The findings were interpreted in terms of the uses and gratifications perspective, which relates interpersonal and mass communication.