Is Excessive Celebrity Admiration Related to Pathological Concern for Others, Distress, and Adverse Childhood Experiences?

The primary aim of this study was to provide additional validation for a brief version of the well-documented Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS-7) in an American sample. This study sought to determine if there is a significant association with the strength of one’s admiration for a favorite celebrity and (1) a pathological concern for the needs of others (2) symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, (3) and adverse childhood experiences. The CAS-7, the Pathological Concern Questionnaire (PCQ), the Depression, Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-9), and the Revised Adverse Childhood Experiences scale (R-ACE) were administered to 367 undergraduate students (80.66% women, M age = 20.26 years, SD = 3.63) from four American institutions. Zero-order correlations indicated that psychological distress and pathological concern were positively associated with both healthy and unhealthy dimensions of celebrity worship. In the path model, psychological distress showed a robust positive association with intense–pathological celebrity worship. Adverse childhood experiences displayed opposing conditional pathways—a small, positive, indirect association via psychological distress and a weak, negative, direct association with intense–pathological celebrity worship—implying a heterogeneous pattern of associations. The findings also provide further support for the validity of the CAS-7 in an American sample.