Measuring the feeling of distant intimacy with politicians: Development, construct validity, and replicability of the parasocial relationship with a political figure (PSR-P) scale

Parasocial theory views ordinary people’s emotional bonding with political figures as a form of parasocial relationship. As existing measures of parasocial relationship have been criticised conceptually and psychometrically, we developed a new scale of parasocial relationship with a political figure (PSR-P). Construct validity, factor replicability and measurement invariance were assessed, based on samples from diverse countries (Indonesia, New Zealand, and the USA) with different political systems. In three studies using a panel of experts (N = 20; Study 1), a convenience sample of adults (N = 212; Study 2), and representative and cross-country samples (N = 897; Study 3), we found that the four-item PSR-R scale provided satisfactory construct validity (i.e. convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity), replicable factor structure with measurement invariance, and predictable results based on socio-political context. The PSR-P scale can be used to advance measurement and applications of parasocial theory in the field of social and political psychology.