Celebrity admiration vs. obsession: New study sheds light on stalking behaviors

A study of U.S. college students has found that those often thinking about and seeking information on and those prone to boredom are likelier to stalk celebrities. Those who admire celebrities primarily for their entertainment abilities are less likely to engage in celebrity stalking. The research was published in the journal PLOS One.

Stalking is a pattern of unwanted, obsessive behavior that involves repeatedly harassing, following, or monitoring someone, causing him/her to feel fear, distress, or a threat to their safety. It can include actions such as physically following a person, sending unwanted messages or gifts, making unwanted phone calls, and monitoring someone’s online activities or physical locations.

Legally, stalking can be classified as a felony or a misdemeanor, depending on the severity of the behavior and the presence of any aggravating factors (such as carrying weapons, making threats, if the victim is a minor etc.). Still, it is estimated that 1.7 million people are stalked in the U.S. alone each year.

Celebrity stalking is a specific form of stalking in which the target is a public figure or a well-known person. Due to their fame, celebrities are more vulnerable to being stalked by fans or individuals who develop an intense, often delusional, fixation on them. Celebrity stalkers may go to extreme lengths to get close to their target, such as showing up uninvited at their home or workplace, attempting to make direct contact, or using social media to track their movements.

The impact of stalking on the celebrity being stalked can be severe. It can lead to emotional distress, a sense of violation, and in some cases, even physical harm to the celebrity or their loved ones.

Study author Maria M. Wong and her colleagues reason that celebrity stalking might fulfill various psychological needs for the stalker, such as thrill-seeking (given the legal risks of stalking) or a means to express anger (by threatening the celebrity). They carried out an online survey to investigate the predictability of celebrity stalking based on a set of behavioral tendencies and psychological traits.

The study involved 596 students from three universities in Idaho and Georgia, with an average age of 20 years; 67% were female, and 51% identified as white. Participation was offered as part of a research module or in exchange for extra credit in a psychology course.

The students completed assessments of celebrity stalking (the Obnoxious Fan Activities Scale – 18, the Obsessional Relational Intrusion and Celebrity Stalking Scale), attitudes towards celebrities (the Celebrity Attitude Scale), sensation seeking (the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale), relationship attachment styles (the Relationships Questionnaire), and proneness to anger (the Multidimensional Anger Inventory – Brief).

Results showed that 64% of participants reported that they have never engaged in any of the celebrity stalking behaviors. Individuals who reported having personal thoughts about celebrities frequently, those feeling more compelled to learn more about them, to pursue them consistently, feeling a desire to harm them, and those prone to boredom were more likely to engage in celebrity stalking. When researchers controlled for these factors, results indicated that individuals who admire celebrities almost exclusively for their ability to entertain were less likely to engage in celebrity stalking.

The study makes a valuable contribution to the scientific understanding of celebrity stalking. However, it also has limitations that need to be taken into account. Notably, the study design does not allow any cause-and-effect conclusions to be drawn from the data. Additionally, all study participants were university students and likely very few, if any, of them engaged in real celebrity stalking. Result might not be the same in other demographic and age groups.

The paper, “Predicting the stalking of celebrities from measures of persistent pursuit and threat directed toward celebrities, sensation seeking and celebrity worship,” was authored by Maria M. Wong, Lynn McCutcheon, Joshua S. Rodefer, and Kenneth Carter.