I Can't Look Away: Parasocial Relationships with Dance Mom Characters Across TV and Social Media

Author

Kennedy Kay Pirlet, South Dakota State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Award Date

2024

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department / School

Communication and Journalism

First Advisor

Jennifer Anderson

Abstract

In 2019, Dance Moms ended its airing on Lifetime at the completion of the eighth season. However, the show and its cast members remained popular on social media platforms like TikTok, but we still didn’t know the relationship between watching the show and following cast members on multiple social media platforms or who audiences were closest to. To answer this question, the celebrity-persona parasocial interaction scale and experience of parasocial interaction scale were utilized. These scales were used in this study and found reliable. Snowball recruitment focusing on social media platforms and emails yielded 180 eligible sample participants. Through a quantitative survey, it was found that individuals perceived themselves as having the strongest relationships with Christi, Kendall, and Holly. However, the measurement scales for relationships indicated the strongest relationships are with Christi, Nia, and Holly and the scales for interactions indicated the strongest relationships are with Holly, Abby Lee, and Kendall. Furthermore, there was no relationship between length of time watching the show and length of time engaging with the content on social media. However, there is an exception, being that the longer they have been watching the show, the longer they have been engaging with the show content on Instagram. This lends evidentiary support that there is no causal relationship between the amount of time spent watching the show and the amount of time engaging with cast members and show content on social media.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Dance moms (Television program)
Dance -- Competitions.
Child dancers.
Mothers and daughters.
Parasocial relationships.
Social media -- Psychological aspects.
Mass media -- Psychological aspects.
Reality television programs.

Publisher

South Dakota State University

Recommended Citation

Pirlet, Kennedy Kay, "I Can't Look Away: Parasocial Relationships with Dance Mom Characters Across TV and Social Media" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 974.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd2/974