Article: The Celebrity Appeal Questionnaire

by Gayle S. Stever, June 1991

The Celebrity Appeal Questionnaire was constructed to operationalize constructs related to parasocial attraction or attraction to celebrities by their fans. The article contains a factor analysis of responses on this questionnaire by 81 college students and a group of 367 Michael Jackson concert attendees. Components of parasocial attraction were perceived sex appeal, perceived competence (here as an entertainer), and perception of the artist as a prosocial person. Mystique was not a predictor of fans’ attraction. Further work to establish generality of applicability of the scales and findings is discussed.