Abstract
Objective
To develop a scale to assess the excessive behavior of superfans in celebrity worship and to test its reliability and validity in China.
Methods
The scale was developed based on the netnography and interviews of celebrity fans and the existing problematic Internet usage scales. Sample 1 (n = 465) was used for exploratory factor analysis, and Sample 2 (n = 804) was used for confirmatory factor analysis, reliability test, criterion validity, and discriminative validity test.
Results
There were 36 items in the final scale, including nine factors: impaired social functioning, replacement of real to virtual social relationships, sleep and eating problems, withdrawal, mood alteration, salience, excessive buying, increased craving, and escape from real life. The factor loadings ranged from 0.565 to 0.803. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the scale was well structured. The reliability of the scale and each factor were satisfactory. The scale showed good discriminant validity in reflecting celebrity worship behavior. In terms of scores, mood alteration was the highest, excessive buying was the lowest, and there were certain gender and age differences.
Conclusion
This study initially identified the main characteristics of excessive celebrity worship behavior among young fans on social media. The developed Chinese scale has good reliability and validity and can be used as a measurement tool.