Psychosocial Correlates of Celebrity Worship in Adolescents

Abstract

Background: Celebrity worship is a common aspect of adolescent development, yet its intensity is often linked to poor psychosocial outcomes. While loneliness and the need to belong are established correlates, the nuanced roles of different types of solitude—and the specific profile of at-risk adolescents—remain unclear. Objective: This study investigated a moderated mediation model in which the relationship between the need to belong and celebrity worship is mediated by loneliness and moderated by social avoidance. It also aimed to identify distinct profiles of adolescent worshippers and compare the predictive power of parasocial relationship quality versus worship intensity on loneliness. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was administered to 200 adolescents (M_age = 16.2, SD = 1.4; 58% female). Participants completed measures of celebrity worship, loneliness, need to belong, social avoidance, positive solitude, and parasocial relationship quality. Data were analyzed using correlation, hierarchical regression, moderated mediation (PROCESS Macro), and Latent Profile Analysis (LPA). Results: As hypothesized, loneliness mediated the link between need to belong and celebrity worship, and this indirect effect was significantly stronger at high levels of social avoidance. Positive solitude was unrelated to worship. LPA revealed three distinct profiles: a “Troubled Compensatory” group (24%) with high scores on all risk factors; a “Healthy Social Fan” group (52%) with moderate worship and healthy psychosocial scores; and a “Casual Enthusiast” group (24%) with low engagement. Furthermore, parasocial relationship quality was a stronger predictor of loneliness than general worship intensity. Conclusions: Celebrity worship is not a monolithic construct. For a vulnerable subgroup of adolescents, it serves as a maladaptive compensatory mechanism, driven by unmet belongingness needs and loneliness, particularly when exacerbated by social avoidance. The findings underscore the importance of differentiating between harmful social avoidance and benign positive solitude and highlight the specific psychological profile of adolescents for whom celebrity worship may signal significant psychosocial risk.