FANatics: Systematic literature review of factors associated with celebrity worship, and suggested directions for future research

Abstract

AbstractA ‘culture of celebrity’ began to emerge in the twentieth century, profoundly impacting the social world. Recent years have seen the publication of an increasing wealth of literature focusing on people who are enthralled with celebrities – often to the point of obsession – termed ‘celebrity worshippers’. The current paper systematically reviews this literature to gain a comprehensive understanding of the various factors associated with celebrity worship and to identify gaps in the literature. Papers were identified through a systematic literature search and 62 were deemed relevant for inclusion in the review. These provided evidence that celebrity worship may be related to demographic factors (e.g. age); personality factors (e.g. dimensions of the psychoticism-extraversion-neuroticism model, materialism); religiosity; behavioural and cognitive-behavioural factors (e.g. fantasy proneness, obsessive behaviours); feelings about the self or the world (e.g. self-esteem); cognitive factors (e.g. cognitive flexibility, critical thinking); relationships with others (e.g. attachment style, romantic relationship style); attitudes towards the body, eating, and cosmetic surgery; and psychological wellbeing (e.g. depression, anxiety). The results are used to help researchers understand the individual and psychosocial factors associated with celebrity worship, and directions for future research in this area are identified.