A study of Egyptian and American young adult parasocial relationships with music video personae

Approximately 360 undergraduate students in the U.S. and Egypt were surveyed regarding their consumption of music videos, affinity for them, and perception of them as reality. Respondent's parasocial interaction with their favorite music video performers was also assessed. Results showed that Egyptian young adults consume significantly greater amounts of music videos than their American counterparts. A similar effect was noted with Muslims versus Christians. Furthermore, Egyptian students scored significantly higher on all other measures than their U.S. counterparts. Affinity was positively correlated with perceptions of reality, and consumption. PSI showed positive correlations with consumption on overall PSI, and subsets of identification with the favorite persona and interest in favorite persona. Limited correlations were also evident between PSI and affinity on overall PSI, and subsets of problem solving abilities, group identification and interaction, and identification with favorite persona. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.