Supernatural friendships: parasocial relationships and the provisions of social support
| dc.contributor.author | Thomas, Kayla L., author | |
| dc.contributor.author | Faw, Meara, advisor | |
| dc.contributor.author | Marx, Nick, committee member | |
| dc.contributor.author | Martey, Rosa Mikeal, committee member | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-09-06T10:24:25Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2021-09-06T10:24:25Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2021 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Parasocial relationships and social support both have independently rich literatures within the field of communication. However, until this study, parasocial relationship partners had not been considered as social support providers. This study furthers scholarly understandings of both parasocial relationships and social support by considering the two relational phenomena in tandem. Fans of the American television show Supernatural with a strong parasocial relationship with a character from the series were interviewed regarding their feelings towards their parasocial relationship partner and how they feel supported by their parasocial relationship partner. Analysis of the interviews revealed participants received esteem support, informational support, emotional support, and social network support from their parasocial relationship partners. The finding that parasocial relationship partners can and do provide social support challenges current understandings of social support as reciprocal and intentional. Two methods by which participants received support without reciprocity and intentionality are proposed: imagined support and constructed support. Additionally, this study investigated the characteristics of supportive messages. Participants watched scenes from Supernatural and identified qualities that made messages supportive or unsupportive. The data from this study corroborated existing methods of categorizing supportive messages such as verbal person centeredness and nonverbal immediacy. Lastly, this study compared support received while watching troubles talk scenes (scenes in which a problem is discussed) and ordinary conversation scenes (scenes in which anything but a problem is discussed) to compare Goldsmith's Normative Approach to social support and Lakey and Orehek's Relational Regulation Theory. This study offers a new approach to describing parasocial relationships through the lens of social support and extends the relational contexts in which social support can be given and received. | |
| dc.format.medium | born digital | |
| dc.format.medium | masters theses | |
| dc.identifier | Thomas_colostate_0053N_16613.pdf | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10217/233685 | |
| dc.language | English | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.publisher | Colorado State University. Libraries | |
| dc.relation.ispartof | 2020- | |
| dc.rights | Copyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright. | |
| dc.subject | relational regulation theory | |
| dc.subject | supernatural | |
| dc.subject | social support | |
| dc.subject | parasocial relationships | |
| dc.title | Supernatural friendships: parasocial relationships and the provisions of social support | |
| dc.type | Text | |
| dcterms.rights.dpla | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). | |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Communication Studies | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Colorado State University | |
| thesis.degree.level | Masters | |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Arts (M.A.) |
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