Involvement with Television Character

What it measures

A nine-item Likert-type scale designed to measure the degree to which a person is interested in, cares about, and sympathizes with a character on a television program.

Response format

5-point scale

Scale items

• I think _____ is like an old friend.
• makes me feel comfortable, as if I am with friends.
• seems to understand the things I want to know.
• I find ______ to be attractive.
• I would like to meet ____ in person.
• I feel sorry when _____ makes a mistake.
• I like to compare my ideas with what _____ says.
• When I’m watching the program and ____ is on, I feel as if I am part of the group.
• I miss seeing ____ when his or her program is not on.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Internal consistency (alpha = .89) was reported in the primary study. Formal validity assessment was not reported by the original authors.

Citation

Rubin, Alan M., Elizabeth M. Perse, and Robert Powell (1985), “Loneliness, Parasocial Interaction, and Local Television News Viewing,” Human Communication Research, 12 (2), 155-180.

Keywords