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Individual

Note: Several articles in this database use different terminology, some refer to pornography use as addiction, others refer to it as compulsive or pathological.

Individual

1.1 How And Why Pornography Can Be Addictive
1.
Addiction can be defined as “the continued use of mood-altering addicting substances or behaviors (e.g. gambling, CSBs) despite adverse consequences.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

CSB stands for compulsive sexual behavior. Pornography use can fit under the umbrella of addiction, when the definition is broadened in such a matter.

  1. Daniel H. Angres and Kathy Bettinardi-Angres, “The Disease of Addiction: Origins, Treatment, and Recovery,” Disease-a-Month 54 (2008): 696-721.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion
2.
“The new ASAM definition makes a departure from equating addiction with just substance dependence, by describing how addiction is also related to behaviors that are rewarding. … This definition says that addiction is about functioning and brain circuitry and how the structure and function of the brains of persons with addiction differ from the structure and function of the brains of persons who do not have addiction. … Food and sexual behaviors and gambling behaviors can be associated with the ‘pathological pursuit of rewards’ described in this new definition of addiction.”
  1. “Public Policy Statement: Definition of Addiction,” American Association of Addiction Medicine, April 12, 2011, http://www.asam.org/docs/publicy-policy-statements/1definition_of_addiction_long_4-11.pdf.
Individual
Addiction Compulsion
3.
“The idea of a non-substance-related addiction may be new to some people, but those of us who are studying the mechanisms of addiction find strong evidence from animal and human research that addiction is a disorder of the brain reward system, and it doesn’t matter whether the system is repeatedly activated by gambling or alcohol or another substance.”
  1. Mark Moran, “Gambling Disorder to Be Included in Addictions Chapter,” Psychiatric News, April 19, 2013.
Individual
Addiction Compulsion
4.
“Addiction Interactive Disorder (AID) implies that addiction has many forms, such as gambling, food, sex, work, certain financial behaviors, and even religiosity.”
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Patrick Carnes, “Addictive Interaction Disorder, Handbook of Addictive Disorders: A Practical Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment,” Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2004
  2. Daniel H. Angres and Kathy Bettinardi-Angres. “The disease of addiction: Origins, treatment, and recovery,” Disease-a-Month 54 (2008): 696-721.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion
5.
In his 1996 article in American Scientist, Ken Blum describes a reward deficiency syndrome that includes not only alcoholism and drug addiction but also other compulsive behaviors, including gambling, sexual compulsivity, and compulsive overeating.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Theoretical/Review.

  1. Kenneth Blum, John G. Cull, Eric R. Braverman, and David E. Comings, “Reward Deficiency Syndrome,” American Scientist 84 (1996):132-145
  2. Daniel H. Angres and Kathy Bettinardi-Angres, “The Disease of Addiction: Origins, Treatment, and Recovery,” Disease-a-Month 54 (2008): 696-721.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Reward Center
7.
“I had great difficulty with my own colleagues when I suggested that a lot of addiction is the result of experience … repetitive, high-emotion, high-frequency experience. But it’s become clear that neuroadaptation—that is, changes in neural circuitry that help perpetuate the behavior—occurs even in the absence of drug-taking.” —Dr. Howard Shaffer, Harvard.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Constance Holden, “Behavioral addictions: Do They Exist?” Science 294 (2001): 980-982.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neuroplasticity Reward Center
10.
Sensitization, or rewiring the brain to associate a substance or behavior—or related cues—with pleasure, means the reward center gets stimulated by these substances or behaviors.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Guangheng Dong, Jie Huang, and Xiaoxia Du, “Enhanced Reward Sensitivity and Decreased Loss Sensitivity in Internet Addicts: An fMRI Study During a Guessing Task,” Journal of Psychiatric Research 45, no. 11 (2011): 1525–29.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neuroplasticity Reward Center
11.
A study comparing brain scans of compulsive pornography users and non-users found that the compulsive users’ brains showed an exaggerated response to pornography cues. The study showed that the compulsive pornography users’ brains lit up when they saw pornography.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional.

  1. Valerie Voon, Thomas Mole, Paula Banca, Laura Porter, Laurel Morris, Simon Mitchell, Tatyana Lapa, et al., “Neural Correlates of Sexual Cue Reactivity in Individuals with and without Compulsive Sexual Behaviours.” PLOS ONE 9, no. 7 (2014).
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Neurochemicals Reward Center
13.
Among the compulsive pornography users Cambridge researchers examined, some had lost jobs due to porn use. Others had damaged relationships. More than half were experiencing lower libido or erectile dysfunction when they tried to have sex with real women, and some had lost large amounts of money or even become suicidal.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional.

  1. Valerie Voon, Thomas Mole, Paula Banca, Laura Porter, Laurel Morris, Simon Mitchell, Tatyana Lapa, et al., “Neural Correlates of Sexual Cue Reactivity in Individuals with and without Compulsive Sexual Behaviours,” PLOS ONE 9, no. 7 (2014).
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neurochemicals Reward Center
14.
“There is no question [these people] are suffering. … I think [ours is] a study that can help people understand that this is a real pathology, this is a real disorder, so people will not dismiss compulsive sexual behavior as something moralistic. … This is not different from how pathologic gambling and substance addiction were viewed several years ago.” —Valerie Voon, Cambridge
  1. Tara Berman, “Sexual Addiction May Be Real After All,” ABC News, July 11, 2014.
Individual
Addiction Compulsion Neurochemicals Reward Center
15.
“While these findings are interesting, it’s important to note, however, that they could not be used to diagnose the condition. Nor does our research necessarily provide evidence that these individuals are addicted to porn, or that porn is inherently addictive. Much more research is required to understand this relationship between compulsive sexual behavior and drug addiction.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Although the Voon study suggests a connection between pornography use and addiction, caution should be used in interpreting the results because it was unable to follow participants over time. The study does not conclusively prove that pornography use is an addiction. This quote is from an interview in which Dr. Voon talked about the study.

  1. Valerie Voon, Thomas Mole, Paula Banca, Laura Porter, Laurel Morris, Simon Mitchell, Tatyana Lapa, et al., “Neural Correlates of Sexual Cue Reactivity in Individuals with and without Compulsive Sexual Behaviours,” PLOS ONE 9, no. 7 (2014).
  2. “Love Is the Drug, Scientists Find,” The Telegraph, July 11, 2014
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neurochemicals Reward Center
16.
Porn use was found to be correlated with less reward circuit activation in the brain while participants briefly viewed sexual photos. The researchers believe these findings indicate desensitization, and possibly tolerance, which are patterns that are similar to other addictions.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Kuhn, S. & Gallinat, J. (2014). Brain Structure and Functional Connectivity Associated With Pornography Consumption – The Brain on Porn. JAMA Psychiatry. 71(7):827-834.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity Reward Center
17.
Participants with compulsive use of pornography and other sexual behaviors were found to have different functional connectivity patterns than non-compulsive users – these are patterns that are similar to other addictions
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Voon, V., Mole, T. B., Banca, P., Porter, L., Morris, L., Mitchell, S., Lapa, T. R., Karr, J., Harrison, N. H., Potenza, M. N., Irvine, M. (2014). Neural Correlates of Sexual Cue Reactivity in Individuals with and without Compulsive Sexual Behaviours. PLoS ONE 9(7): e102419. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0102419
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity Reward Center
18.
Compared to healthy volunteers, compulsive pornography users have enhanced attentional bias to explicit cues but not neutral cues particularly for early stimuli latency. The researchers report that this finding provides support for an incentive motivation theory of addiction associated with compulsive pornography use.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Mechelmans DJ, Irvine M, Banca P, Porter L, Mitchell S, et al. (2014) Enhanced Attentional Bias towards Sexually Explicit Cues in Individuals with and without Compulsive Sexual Behaviours. PLoS ONE 9(8): e105476.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity Reward Center
19.
Compared to healthy controls, compulsive pornography users experienced more frequent and enhanced sexual desire during exposure to sexual stimuli – this is similar to brain imaging studies of substance and behavior addictions.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Seok J-W and Sohn J-H (2015) Neural Substrates of Sexual Desire in Individuals with Problematic Hypersexual Behavior. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 9:321. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00321
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity Reward Center
21.
The findings of this study showed that that neural correlates of appetitive conditioning and neural connectivity are altered in individuals reporting compulsive sexual behaviors.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Klucken, T., Wehrum-Osinsky, S., Schweckendiek, Kruse, O., Stark, R. (2016). Altered Appetitive Conditioning and Neural Connectivity in Subjects With Compulsive Sexual Behavior. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 13 (4), 627–636.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity Reward Center
22.
The findings from this study suggest that like in substance-use and gambling disorders the neural and behavioral mechanisms linked to anticipatory processing of cues relate importantly to clinically relevant features of problematic pornography use.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Gola, M., Wordecha, M., Sescousse, G., Lew-Starowicz, M. Kossowski, B. Wypych, M. Makeig, S., Potenza, M. N., & Marchewka, M. (2016) Can pornography be addictive? An fMRI study of men seeking treatment for problematic pornography use. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/057083
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity Reward Center
24.
Brain imaging in this study supported the role for the ventral striatum in processing reward anticipation and gratification linked to subjectively preferred pornographic material. The authors concluded that these mechanisms for reward anticipation in ventral striatum may contribute to a neural explanation for why some individuals with certain preferences are at-risk for losing their control over internet pornography consumption.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Brand M, Snagowski J, Laier C, & Maderwald S. (2016) Ventral striatum activity when watching preferred pornographic pictures is correlated with symptoms of Internet pornography addiction. Neuroimage, 129, 224-232.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity Reward Center
26.
In a review of the research, these researchers concluded that the ongoing controversy over pornography addiction is very similar to the phenomenon which occurred with alcoholism and drug dependencies not that long ago however, when presented with the latest scientific advances the criticisms prove to be unfounded and outdated.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Phillips, B., Hajela, R., & Hilton JR, D. L. (2015) Sex Addiction as a Disease: Evidence for Assessment, Diagnosis, and Response to Critics, Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention, 22:2, 167-192, DOI: 10.1080/10720162.2015.1036184
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity Reward Center
29.
Based on a thorough review of the research, the researchers argue that classifying compulsive sexual behaviors as a ‘behavioral addiction’ would have significant implications for policy, prevention and treatment efforts. They conclude that because of similarities between compulsive sexual behaviors and drug addictions, interventions effective for addictions may hold promise for treating compulsive pornography use and other sexual behaviors.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Kraus, SW, Voon, V. Potenza, M. N. (2016) Neurobiology of Compulsive Sexual Behavior: Emerging Science. Neuropsychopharmacology 41, 385-386 doi:10.1038/npp.2015.300
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity Reward Center
31.
Neural differences in the processing of sexual-cue reactivity were identified in compulsive pornography users in regions previously implicated in drug-cue reactivity studies.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Voon, V., Mole, T. B., Banca, P., Porter, L., Morris, L., Mitchell, S., Lapa, T. R., Karr, J., Harrison, N. H., Potenza, M. N., Irvine, M. (2014). Neural Correlates of Sexual Cue Reactivity in Individuals with and without Compulsive Sexual Behaviours. PLoS ONE 9(7): e102419. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0102419
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity Reward Center
1.2 Prevalence of Compulsive Pornography Use
Note: Understanding the spectrum of prevalence of pornography addiction or compulsion is important when evaluating the research surrounding the impact pornography can have in the brain on an individual level.
1.
Results suggest that pornography is a prominent feature of the current emerging adulthood culture. Pornography use was particularly prevalent among emerging adult men, with nearly half reporting that they viewed pornography at least weekly and about 1 in 5 reporting that they used pornography daily or every other day.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. 1 - Jason Carroll, Laura M. Padilla-Walker, Larry J. Nelson, Chad D. Olson, Carolyn McNamara Barry, and Stephanie D. Madsen, “Generation XXX: Pornography Acceptance and Use among Emerging Adults,” Journal of Adolescent Research 23 (2008): 6-30.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Prevalence
2.
Some research has suggested objective criteria such as 11 hours of pornography use per week.(1) Others have used more subjective criteria, such as efforts in obtaining pornography, perceived lack of control, and distress regarding use.(2)
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Accurately assessing the prevalence of compulsive pornography use can be difficult, as different criteria have been used to diagnose compulsive pornography use.

  1. 1- Alvin Cooper, Coralie R. Scherer, Sylvain C. Boies, and Barry L. Gordon, “Sexuality on the Internet: From Sexual Exploration to Pathological Expression,” Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 30, (1999): 154–164.
  2. Joshua B. Grubbs, Fred Volk, Julie J. Exline & Kenneth I. Pargament, “Internet Pornography Use: Perceived Addiction, Psychological Distress, and the Validation of a Brief Measure,” Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy. 41 no. 1 (2015): 83-106.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Prevalence
3.
Because of the lack of agreement concerning the diagnostic for compulsive pornography use, wide range estimates exist as to its prevalence. Estimates usually range between 1 and 10 percent.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Alvin Cooper, David Delmonico, and Ron Burg, “Cybersex Users, Abusers, and Compulsives: New Findings and Implications,” Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity 7, nos. 1 and 2 (2000): 5-29.
  2. Alvin Cooper, Janet Morahan-Martin, Robin M. Mathy, and Marlene Maheu. “Toward an Increased Understanding of User Demographics in Online Sexual Activities,” Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy 28 (2002): 105-129.
  3. Steve Sussman, Nadre Lisha, and Mark Griffiths, “Prevalence of the Addictions: A problem of the Majority or the Minority?” Evaluation Health Professional. 2011; 34(1): 3-56.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion
1.3 Understanding the Brain’s Reward Center
2.
To steer us toward things that will help us: the reward center uses two different pleasure systems, one that excites and another that satisfies. The first system motivates us to go after things; it is largely fueled by dopamine. The second system makes us feel satisfied and happy after accomplishing something. It’s run by endorphins.
Editor's Note

Theoretical/Review.

  1. Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, New York: Viking, 2007.
Individual
Neuroplasticity Reward Center
3.
Porn activates both of the reward center’s pleasure systems, but the wanting system is stronger than the satisfying system; porn hyper-activates our wanting system, pumping out dopamine in response to each new image. As a result, the user can get caught in a loop of wanting, using, pumping out a bunch of dopamine, in response to new images found while using, and then wanting even more.
Editor's Note

Theoretical/Review.

  1. Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, New York: Viking, 2007.
Individual
Neuroplasticity Reward Center
4.
One study assessing the difference in how the brain responds to sexual intercourse as opposed to pornography showed that using pornography resulted in releasing 1/5 of the prolactin that sexual intercourse releases. Prolactin is a chemical that helps people to feel truly satisfied, and fulfilled through the sexual experience.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

The lack of prolactin released from pornography use supports the notion that while pornography may bring excitation and wanting, it is less likely to satisfy.

  1. Stuart Brody and Tillmann H.C. Kruger, “The Post-Orgasmic Prolactin Increase Following Intercourse is Greater than Following Masturbation and Suggests Greater Satiety,” Biological Psychology 71 (2006): 312-315.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Neurochemicals Reward Center
8.
Dopamine levels increase when something is surprising.
  1. Max Miller, “Big Think Interview with Adam Kepecs,” BigThink.com, August 20, 2010, http://bigthink.com/videos/big-think¬interview¬with¬adam¬kepecs.
Individual
Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity Reward Center
9.
Sexual arousal increases when something produces anxiety.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. David H. Barlow, David K. Sakheim, and J. Gayle Beck, “Anxiety Increases Sexual Arousal,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 92, no. 1 (1983): 49–54.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity Reward Center
10.
Dopamine levels go up in response to seeking.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Bianca C. Wittmann, Nico Bunzeck, Raymond J. Dolan, and Emrah Düzel, “Anticipation of Novelty Recruits Reward System and Hippocampus While Promoting Recollection,” NeuroImage 38, nos. 1–9 (2007): 194–202.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Neurochemicals Reward Center
11.
Novelty and expecting a reward amplify each other to increase excitement and rewire the brain’s reward circuitry.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Ruth M. Krebs, Dorathee Heipertz, Hartmut Schütze, and Emrah Duzel. “Novelty Increases the Mesolimbic Functional Connectivity of the Substantia Nigra/Ventral Tegmental Area (SN/VTA) During Reward Anticipation: Evidence from High¬Resolution fMRI,” NeuroImage 58, no. 2 (2011): 647–655.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity Reward Center
12.
Early experiences with arousal tend to crystalize sexual preference.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Theoretical/Review. Although this article does not specifically address pornography, its theory suggests that early experiences with arousal from watching pornography may result in crystalizing sexual preferences based on the content being viewed.

  1. James G. Pfaus, “Who, What, Where, When (and Maybe Even Why)? How the Experience of Sexual Reward Connects Sexual Desire, Preference, and Performance,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 41 (2012): 31–62.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Arousal Template Neurochemicals Neuroplasticity
1.4 Sexual Conditioning
2.
When a person is sexually aroused, it builds new brain maps for both what they think is sexy and what they expect from their partner.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Theoretical/Review. Although this source does not specifically talk about pornography, it suggests that the feelings of arousal pornography creates can build new brain maps for the user thinks is sexy and what to expect from his or her sexual partner.

  1. James G. Pfaus, “Who, What, Where, When (and Maybe Even Why)? How the Experience of Sexual Reward Connects Sexual Desire, Preference, and Performance,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 41 (2012): 31–62.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Arousal Template Sexual Conditioning
4.
Researchers have found that the younger a person is when they first start using porn, the more likely they are to use bestiality or child pornography.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional. Although early use of pornography was associated with more child pornography and bestiality, we note that the percentage of the sample who reported using such materials was relatively small, as 8.6% reported using bestiality, and 5.2% reported using child pornography. This suggests that while early pornography use is likely a factor in consuming deviant pornography, there are likely a variety of other important factors as well that lead to deviant pornography use.

  1. Kathryn C. Seigfried ¬Spellar and Marcus K. Rogers “Does Deviant Pornography Use Follow a Guttman-Like Progression?” Computers in Human Behavior 29, no. 5 (2013): 1997–2003.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Child Pornography Sexual Conditioning
6.
Researchers in England recently published a study on anal sex practices among heterosexual 16 to 18-year-olds. They found that while few of the young men or women thought anal sex was enjoyable and they overwhelmingly expected it to be painful for women, still about a quarter of them had done it. When researchers asked why, one of the top responses was that the “men wanted to copy what they saw in pornography.” The researchers also reported that it seemed to be taken for granted by many of the study’s participants that men would try to persuade or coerce their partners into having anal sex, even though they expected it to be painful for women. “Even in otherwise seemingly communicative and caring partnerships, some men seemed to push to have anal sex with their reluctant partner despite believing it likely to hurt her,” their paper states. “Women seemed to take for granted that they would either acquiesce to or resist their partners’ repeated requests, rather than being equal partners in sexual decision making.”
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Cicely Alice Marston and Ruth Lewis. “Anal Heterosex Among Young People and Implications for Health Promotion: A Qualitative Study in the UK,” BMJ Open 4, no. 8 (2014).
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Conditioning Sexual Scripts
1.5 Mental & Emotional Health
1.
Pornography use correlates with depression, anxiety, stress, and social problems.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional.

  1. Michael E. Levin, Jason Lillis, and Steven C. Hayes, “When is Online Pornography Viewing Problematic Among College Males? Examining the Moderating Role of Experiential Avoidance,” Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity 19, no. 3 (2012): 168–80.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Anxiety Depression Mental/Emotional Health
2.
Pornography use is correlated with lower quality of life and poorer health.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional.

  1. James B. Weaver, Stephanie Sargent Weaver, Darren Mays, Gary L. Hopkins, Wendi Kannenberg, and Duane McBride, “Mental- and Physical-Health Indicators and Sexually Explicit Media Use Behavior by Adults,” Journal of Sexual Medicine 8, no. 3 (2011): 764–72.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Mental/Emotional Health
6.
Contextual factors are important for how pornography use influences both emotional and mental health.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Joshua B. Grubbs, Julie J. Exline, Kenneth I. Pargament, Joshua N. Hook, and Robert D. Carlisle, “Transgression as Addiction: Religiosity and Moral Disapproval as Predictors of Perceived Addiction to Pornography,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 44 (2015): 125-136.
  2. Joshua B. Grubbs, Nicholas Stauner, Julie J. Exline, Kenneth I. Pargament, and Matthew J. Linberg, “Perceived Addiction to Internet Pornography and Psychological Distress: Examining Relationships Concurrently and Over Time,” Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 29 No. 4 (2015): 1056-1067.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Mental/Emotional Health
7.
Believing oneself to be addicted to pornography is more important in predicting depression and anxiety than actual pornography use.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Joshua B. Grubbs, Nicholas Stauner, Julie J. Exline, Kenneth I. Pargament, and Matthew J. Linberg, “Perceived Addiction to Internet Pornography and Psychological Distress: Examining Relationships Concurrently and Over Time,” Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 29 No. 4 (2015): 1056-1067.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Anxiety Depression Mental/Emotional Health
8.
Regardless of how often they use pornography, religious individuals are more likely to believe themselves to be addicted to pornography.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional.

  1. Joshua B. Grubbs, Julie J. Exline, Kenneth I. Pargament, Joshua N. Hook, and Robert D. Carlisle, “Transgression as Addiction: Religiosity and Moral Disapproval as Predictors of Perceived Addiction to Pornography,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 44 (2015): 125-136.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Mental/Emotional Health Religiosity
9.
Religious men who viewed pornography reported lower levels of past and recent individual religious practices, lower past family religious practices, lower levels of self-worth and identity development regarding dating and family, and higher levels of depression.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional.

  1. Larry J. Nelson, Laura M. Padilla-Walker, and Jason S. Carroll, “’I believe it is Wrong but I Still Do It’: A Comparison of Religious Young Men Who Do Versus Do Not Use Pornography,” Psychology of Religion and Spirituality 2 No. 3 (2010): 136-147.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Mental/Emotional Health Religiosity
11.
Pornography was strongly associated with the frequency of masturbation among men who reported decreased sexual desire. Among men who frequently masturbate (at least once a week), a majority (70%) reported a comparable frequency of pornography use. The strong correlation between the two practices indicates a pattern of pornography-based masturbation and supports Bancroft’s (2009) suggestion that the ease of accessibility to online pornography may have fostered the individual rather than the coupled pursuit of sexual pleasure.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Ana Carvalheira, Bente Traeen, and Aleksandar Stulhofer, “Masturbation and Pornography Use Among Couples Heterosexual Men with Decreased Sexual Desire: How Many Roles of Masturbation?” Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy 41, no. 6 (2015): 626-635.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Mental/Emotional Health
12.
“Our findings indicate that using sexually explicit websites decreases boys’ school performance 6 months later, even after controlling for boys’ academic performance at the first wave. These findings provide new insights into the consequences of adolescent boys’ sexually explicit media use. While previous research has mainly focused on consequences with regard to sexual behavior and sexual risk-taking, our study is one of the first to indicate that the impact of Internet pornography encompasses a wider scope and is not restricted to consequences of a sexual nature.”
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Ine Beyens, Laura Vandenbosch, and Steven Eggermont, “Early Adolescent Boys’ Exposure to Internet Pornography: Relationships to Pubertal Timing, Sensation Seeking, and Academic Performance,” The Journal of Early Adolescence 35, no. 8 (2015): 1045-1068.
Individual
Peer Reviewed
Mental/Emotional Health
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Relationships

Relationships

2.1 Expectations of Sexuality
3.
Media present youth with scripts for how to behave in romantic relationships.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Deborah L. Tolman, Janna L. Kim, Deborah Schooler, and C. Lynn Sorsoli, “Rethinking the Associations between Television Viewing and Adolescent Sexuality Development: Bringing Gender into Focus,” Journal of Adolescent Health 40, no. 1 (2007): 84 e9-16.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
4.
“Learning is better if it is reinforced. Behavior that is rewarded is likely to be repeated while behavior that is punished is less likely to be repeated. Sexual arousal and orgasm are extremely rewarding experiences. We may be innately predisposed to enjoy the rewards of sexual arousal and orgasm, but we learn how and when and with whom we can experience those pleasures. If a novel sexual behavior produces an orgasm, we are more likely to repeat that behavior and add it to our sexual template and repertoire.”
Editor's Note

Theoretical/Review.

  1. Mary Anne Layden, “Pornography and Violence: A New Look at the Research,” in The Social Costs of Pornography, edited by James R. Stoner Jr. and Donna M. Hughes, 57–68. Princeton, New Jersey: Witherspoon Institute, 2010.
Relationships
Sexual Conditioning Sexual Scripts
5.
“Learning is also better if we see others perform a behavior and observe what happens. Seeing others who are modeling behaviors rewarded or punished will have some of the same effects on us as if we were rewarded or punished ourselves.”
Editor's Note

Theoretical/Review.

  1. Mary Anne Layden, “Pornography and Violence: A New Look at the Research,” in The Social Costs of Pornography, edited by James R. Stoner Jr. and Donna M. Hughes, 57–68. Princeton, New Jersey: Witherspoon Institute, 2010.
Relationships
Sexual Conditioning Sexual Scripts
6.
“Imagery that contains role models who are demonstrating sexual behavior and being rewarded for it, that produces sexual arousal in the viewer and is followed by an orgasm, can be extremely effective in producing deeply learned beliefs and behaviors. Pornography can offer all these elements—images, arousal, reinforcement, the example of others—so it is a potent teacher of both beliefs and behaviors. It provides the ideal conditions for learning.”
Editor's Note

Theoretical/Review.

  1. Mary Anne Layden, “Pornography and Violence: A New Look at the Research,” in The Social Costs of Pornography, edited by James R. Stoner Jr. and Donna M. Hughes, 57–68. Princeton, New Jersey: Witherspoon Institute, 2010.
Relationships
Arousal Template Sexual Scripts
8.
“Examining both how often sexually explicit material was used and how many types of SEM were used, this study also suggested that these two variables were associated in interesting ways with aspects of participants’ sexual behaviors, satisfaction, and preferences, lending support to the hypothesis that SEM use plays a role in the cultivation of sexual scripts during young adults’ sexual development.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional.

  1. Elizabeth M. Morgan, “Associations between Young Adults’ Use of Sexually Explicit Materials and Their Sexual Preferences, Behaviors, and Satisfaction,” Journal of Sex Research 48, no. 6 (2011): 520–530.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
9.
“Not only younger children, but even young teenagers are generally not sophisticated enough to differentiate between fantasy and reality. They learn direct lessons from pornography, with no filter, and with no concept of exaggeration, irony, or affect. They learn what women supposedly look like, how they should act, and what they are supposed to do. They learn what women ‘want’ and how men can give it to them. Watching pornography, boys and girls learn that women always want sex and that sex is divorced from relationships. They learn that men can have whomever they want and that women will respond the way men want them to. They learn that anal sex is the norm and instant female orgasm is to be expected. And they absorb these lessons avidly, emulating people they perceive to be role models.”
Editor's Note

Theoretical/Review.

  1. Pamela Paul, “From Pornography to Porno to Porn: How Porn Became the Norm,” in The Social Costs of Pornography, edited by James R. Stoner Jr. and Donna M. Hughes, 3–20. Princeton, New Jersey: Witherspoon Institute, 2010.
Relationships
Sexual Scripts
11.
“Scripts are memory structures that provide information and rules for behaving. They evolve over time and with repeated exposure to a set of stimuli or with repetition of particular behaviors.(1) For example, people develop scripts for how to behave in a public library, a football game, or when stopped by a police officer for speeding. Pornography’s scripts emphasize culturally accepted beauty standards, the idea of the constant sexual availability and insatiable sexual appetites of men and women, the excitement of sexual novelty, and sex outside of a primary romantic relationship.(2) It rarely includes affection, intimate relationships, or expressions of love, and it often involves men ejaculating outside of a woman’s body while she expresses orgasmic pleasure. Frequently, pornography lacks foreplay and afterplay: The focus on sexual penetration is so pervasive that caressing, kissing, or cuddling are minimized or eliminated.(3)”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Theoretical/Review.

  1. Ana J. Bridges, “Pornography’s Effects on Interpersonal Relationships,” in The Social Costs of Pornography, edited by James R. Stoner Jr. and Donna M. Hughes, 89–110. Princeton, New Jersey: Witherspoon Institute, 2010.
  2. 1—Ramesh Lakshmi-Ratan and Easwar Iyer, “Similarity Analysis of Cognitive Scripts,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 16, no. 2 (1988): 36–42.
  3. 2— Hans-Bernd Brosius, James B. Weaver III, Joachim F. Staab, “Exploring the Social and Sexual ‘Reality’ of Contemporary Pornography,” Journal of Sex Research 30, no. 2 (1993): 161–70.
  4. 3— Donald L. Mosher and Paula MacIan, “College Men and Women Respond to X-Rated Videos Intended for Male or Female Audiences: Gender and Sexual Scripts,” Journal of Sex Research 31, no. 2 (1994): 99–112.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
13.
Since adolescents often don’t have “real-life experiences with sexual partners … they are especially susceptible to internalization of distorted pornographic images of human sexuality and may act accordingly.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Authors’ interpretation of the results.

  1. John A. Hunter, Aurelio J. Figueredo, and Neil M. Malamuth, “Developmental Pathways into Social and Sexual Deviance,” Journal of Family Violence 25 (2010): 141–148.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
14.
“Analyses revealed that both [pornography] viewing frequency and the number of [pornography] types viewed uniquely predicted all three sexual preference variables. These robust relationships … indicate that heavy consumers of [pornography] hold similar sexual preferences to those frequently portrayed in [pornography]. … Interestingly, however, the average age of first [pornography] use proceeded the average age of first sexual intercourse by two to four years, suggesting that the majority of participants likely engaged with [pornography] prior to developing preferences based on their own sexual experiences. In sum, the findings from this study reveal that multiple dimensions of [pornography] use, including frequency of use and number of types used, share significant associations with young adults’ sexual behaviors, sexual and relationship satisfaction, and sexual preferences.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional.

  1. Elizabeth M. Morgan, “Associations between Young Adults’ Use of Sexually Explicit Materials and Their Sexual Preferences, Behaviors, and Satisfaction,” Journal of Sex Research 48, no. 6 (2011): 520–530.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Satisfaction Sexual Scripts
15.
“This combination reveals that, despite having a well-defined set of preferences and experiences, individuals frequently using [pornography] are nonetheless less satisfied with these experiences. This difference could reflect a disconnect between their preferences and their actual sexual and relationship experiences, suggesting that [pornography] viewing may indeed set up young adults to expect unrealistic sexual encounters.”
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Elizabeth M. Morgan, “Associations between Young Adults’ Use of Sexually Explicit Materials and Their Sexual Preferences, Behaviors, and Satisfaction,” Journal of Sex Research 48, no. 6 (2011): 520–530.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Satisfaction Sexual Scripts
16.
In a study comparing male undergraduate students’ sexual beliefs, researchers found that “participants who viewed music videos of highly objectified female artists reported more adversarial sexual beliefs, more acceptance of interpersonal violence, and, at a level of marginal significance, more negative attitudes about sexual harassment than participants assigned to low-sexually objectifying music videos by the same female artists.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Experimental.

  1. Jennifer Stevens Aubrey, K. Megan Hopper, and Wanjiru G. Mbure, “Check That Body! The Effects of Sexually Objectifying Music Videos on College Men’s Sexual Beliefs,” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 55, no. 3 (2011): 360–379.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Violence
17.
In a survey of 487 college men aged 18–29 in the United States, researchers found that “the more pornography a man watches, the more likely he was to use it during sex, request particular pornographic sex acts of his partner, deliberately conjure images of pornography during sex to maintain arousal, and have concerns over his own sexual performance and body image. Further, higher pornography use was negatively associated with enjoying sexually intimate behaviors with a partner. We conclude that pornography provides a powerful heuristic model which is implicated in men’s expectations and behaviors during sexual encounters.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional.

  1. Chyng Sun, Ana Bridges, Jennifer Johnason, and Matt Ezzell, “Pornography and the Male Sexual Script: An Analysis of Consumption and Sexual Relations,” Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45, no. 4 (2016): 983-994.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
21.
Pornography use was associated with a higher likelihood of having a penetrative hookup; a higher incidence of intoxication during hookups for men (but a lower incidence of intoxication during hookups for women); increasing levels of intoxication during hookups for men but decreasing levels of intoxication for women; and a higher likelihood of being in the riskiest category of having a penetrative hookup, without a condom, while intoxicated.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Anneli Givens, Jacob Brown, and Frank Fincham, “Is Pornography Consumption Associated with Condom Use and Intoxication During Hookups?” Culture, Health & Sexuality 17, no. 10 (2015): 1155-1173.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
22.
Frequent viewing of pornographic images is associated with sexual activity at a younger age, a larger number of sexual partners, an inclination to seek out casual partners, the practice of anal penetration, a lower level of prevention of sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies and finally, a higher consumption of alcohol and cannabis.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Anneli Givens, Jacob Brown, and Frank Fincham, “Is Pornography Consumption Associated with Condom Use and Intoxication During Hookups?” Culture, Health & Sexuality 17, no. 10 (2015): 1155-1173.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
23.
Both the development of and the longitudinal relations between SEIM use, permissive sexual attitudes, and sexual behavior are gender-specific. Boys occasionally and increasingly used SEIM over the 18 months of the study, and these increases co-occurred with increases in their permissive sexual attitudes and experience with sexual behavior. Furthermore, boys’ SEIM use consistently predicted their endorsement of permissive sexual attitudes, over and above prior attitude levels. In contrast, girls’ SEIM use was low and generally independent from developmental changes in their permissive sexual attitudes and sexual behavior.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Longitudinal

  1. Suzan M. Doornwaard, David S. Bickham, Michael Rich, Tom F. ter Bogt, and Regina J. J. M. van Den Eijnden, “Adolescents’ Use of Sexually Explicit Internet Material and Their Sexual Attitudes and Behavior: Parallel Development and Directional Effects,” Developmental Psychology 51, no. 10 (2015): 1476-1488.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
24.
“Our results demonstrate that more frequent viewing of pornography is associated with a higher incidence of FWB relationships, a higher number of unique FWB partners, and engagement in all types of risky sexual behaviors during FWB relationships.”
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Scott R. Braithwaite, Sean C. Aaron, Krista K. Dowdle, Kersti Spjut, and Frank D. Fincham, “Does Pornography Consumption Increase Participation in Friends With Benefits Relationships?” Sexuality & Culture: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly 19, no. 3 (2015): 513-532.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
25.
“Interest or engagement in each dominant behavior was also analyzed in correspondence with frequency of pornography consumption. At the zero-order level, more frequent pornography consumption was associated with interest or engagement in each behavior. After relevant covariates were considered, more frequent pornography consumption remained associated with a higher likelihood of interest or engagement in hard spanking, role-played forced sex, slapping, choking, tying a partner up, dominating a partner, double-penetration, penile gagging, and name-calling.”
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Paul J. Wright, Chyng Sun, Nicola J. Steffen, and Robert S. Tokunaga, “Pornography, Alcohol, and Male Sexual Dominance,” Communication Monographs 82, no. 2 (2015): 252-270.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
26.
“The magnitude of the association between men’s frequency of pornography consumption and the number of behaviors men tried incrementally increased as the frequency of men’s alcohol consumption before or during sex increased. Men who had tried the most behaviors were those who regularly consumed pornography and regularly drank alcohol before or during sex. The present study’s finding that frequency of pornography consumption most strongly predicts men’s engagement in dominant behaviors when they drink alcohol before or during sex is consistent with prior experimental research on pornography consumption and sexual coercion.”
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Paul J. Wright, Chyng Sun, Nicola J. Steffen, and Robert S. Tokunaga, “Pornography, Alcohol, and Male Sexual Dominance,” Communication Monographs 82, no. 2 (2015): 252-270.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
27.
Studies were included if they assessed the association between pornography use and indicators of sexual risk behaviors in an adult population. A total of 17 were included in the review, and all were assessed for research standards using the Quality Index Scale. For both Internet pornography and general pornography, links with greater unsafe sex practices and number of sexual partners were identified.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Emily L. Harkness, Barbara Mullan, and Alex Blaszczynski, “Association Between Pornography Use and Sexual Risk Behaviors in Adult Consumers: A Systematic Review,” Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 18, no. 2 (2015): 59-71.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
29.
“More frequent viewing of pornography is associated with having had more previous sexual partners of all types, more one occasion sexual partners (‘one night stands’), and plans to have a higher number of sexual partners in the future.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional and Longitudinal

  1. Scott R. Braithwaite, Gwen Coulson, Krista Keddington, and Frank D. Fincham, “The Influence of Pornography on Sexual Scripts and Hooking up Among Emerging Adults in College,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 44, no. 1 (2015): 1-13.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
32.
“Contrary to the position that associations between pornography consumption and premarital sex attitudes are due to individuals who already have positive attitudes toward premarital sex selecting content congruent with their attitudes, premarital sex attitudes at T1 did not predict pornography consumption at T2.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Longitudinal

  1. Paul J. Wright, “Americans’ Attitudes Toward Premarital Sex and Pornography Consumption: A National Panel Analysis,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 44, no. 1 (2015): 89-97.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Scripts
2.2 Partner’s Mental and Emotional Health
Note: The majority of the citations for this section are from clinical or at-risk samples. This means that the research found people who were having distress because of their spouse’s pornography use and asked them to report on their feelings.
10.
Results revealed that women’s reports of their male partners’ pornography use were related to less relationship satisfaction and more psychological distress. In addition, relationship trust mediated the links between male partners’ perceived pornography use and relationship satisfaction and psychological distress.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Dawn M. Szymanski, Chadra E. Feltman, and Trevor L. Dunn, “Male Partners’ Perceived Pornography Use and Women’s Relational and Psychological Health: The Roles of Trust, Attitudes, and Investment,” Sex Roles 73, no. 5-6 (2015): 187-199.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Perception of Partner
1.
“In an earlier investigation, we discovered fifteen common, recurring themes in the help-seeking letters of women highly distressed by their pornography use. Discovering the pornography use had radically altered the way that these women perceived their relationships, themselves, and their partners. The present study explored whether or not such highly negative and distressing attitudes were representative of women in general. Our data suggests that they were not. Women in our sample on average did not endorse the extremely negative meanings displayed by women either in our earlier study or in Scheider’s. Furthermore, the women in our study tended to give neutral to slightly positive endorsement to other positive statements about their partner’s pornography usage.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

See section 2.2 note for more information.

  1. Ana J. Bridges, R. M. Bergner, and M. Hesson-McInnis, “Romantic Partners’ Use of Pornography: Its Significance for Women,” Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy 29, no. 1 (2003): 1–14.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Mental/Emotional Health
6.
In a study conducted using college students, males were randomly assigned to watch one of three films: one of erotica, one of nonsexual news coverage of war, or one of pornography. After the films they were invited to attend a seemingly separate experiment in which they were paired with a female and asked to work on a problem-solving task. They were filmed while solving the problem, and researchers coded the taped interactions for eye gaze, interruptions, touch, unwanted sexual remarks, and disregard of a partner’s suggestions. Those participants who have viewed the sexually explicit films (erotica and pornography) exhibited more dominant behaviors, touched their female partners for longer periods of time, and ignored their partner’s ideas and suggestions more often than those who had watched the news coverage video. Men who had viewed the pornography video interrupted their partners more often and showed more anxious behaviors than those who had watched one of the other two videos. The researchers also looked at the female partners’ behaviors and found that even though the women were unaware that their partners had watched the films, their behavior correlated highly with their male partner’s behavior. Women who were partnered with men who had viewed either of the sexually explicit films exhibited similar levels of anxiety, physical proximity, partner touch, and gazing as their male partners, suggesting that women partners of porn users can be negatively affected by their partner’s use of pornography even when they aren’t aware of said use.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Anthony Mulac, Laura Jansma, and Daniel Linz, “Men’s Behavior Toward Women After Viewing Sexually Explicit Films: Degradation Makes a Difference,” Communication Monographs 69, no. 4 (2002): 311–328.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Mental/Emotional Health
7.
Some partners of pornography users report that their partners ask them to reenact pornographic scenes, consume pornography with said partner, or pressure or coerce them into sexual acts they find uncomfortable or demeaning.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Eunjung Ryu, “Spousal Use of Pornography and Its Clinical Significance for Asian-American Women: Korean Women as an Illustration,” Journal of Feminist Family Therapy 16, no. 4 (2004): 75–89.
  2. Janet Hinson Shope, “When Words Are Not Enough: The Search for the Effect of Pornography on Abused Women,” Violence Against Women 10, no. 1 (2004): 56–72.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Mental/Emotional Health
8.
When researchers interviewed partners of “sexual addicts” (91 females, 3 males) to learn how they were being impacted by the partners’ use, subjects reported feelings of hurt, betrayal, lowered self-esteem, mistrust, decreased intimacy, anger, feelings of being unattractive and objectified, feeling their partners had less interest in sexual contact, pressure from the partner to enact things from online fantasy, and feeling like they could not measure up to the women seen online.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Jennifer P. Schneider, “Effects of Cybersex Addiction on the Family: Results of a Survey,” Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity 7, nos. 1 and 2 (2000): 31–58.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion Mental/Emotional Health Objectification
9.
A survey of female college students found that women who perceived their boyfriends’ use of porn to be problematic experienced diminished self-esteem, poorer relationship quality, and lower sexual satisfaction.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Destin Stewart and Dawn Szymanski, “Young Adult Women’s Reports of Their Male Romantic Partner’s Pornography Use as a Correlate of their Psychological distress, relationship quality, and Sexual Satisfaction,” Sex Roles 67 (2012): 257–271.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Mental/Emotional Health Sexual Satisfaction
2.3 Perceptions of Partners
3.
“Adolescents’ exposure to [sexually explicit Internet material] was both a cause and a consequence of their beliefs that women are sex objects. More frequent exposure to [sexually explicit Internet material] caused stronger beliefs that women are sex objects. At the same time, stronger beliefs that women are sex objects led to more frequent exposure to [sexually explicit Internet material], albeit only for male adolescents.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Longitudinal.

  1. Jochen Peter and Patti M. Valkenburg, “Adolescents’ Exposure to Sexually Explicit Internet Material and Notions of Women as Sex Objects: Assessing Causality and Underlying Processes,” Journal of Communication 59 (2009): 407–433.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Objectification Perception of Partner
4.
Lexington, Massachusetts–based psychologist and sex therapist Aline Zoldbrod says …. “The majority of porn out there is degrading to women and it’s only gotten worse. The women are plasticized; there’s no longer as much diversity or naturalism as there was two decades ago.”
Editor's Note

Theoretical/Review.

  1. Pamela Paul, Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families. New York: Henry Holt and Co, p. 145.
Relationships
Perception of Partner
5.
In a series of interviews with researchers, one female adolescent described a common theme in pornography saying, “Well, the girl should be small, thin, and you know … inferior … while the guy should be muscular and superior.”
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Elisabet Haggstrom-Nordin, Jonas Sandberg, Ulf Hanson, and T. Tyden, “’It’s Everywhere!’ Young Swedish People’s Thoughts and Reflections about Pornography,” Scandinavian Journal of Caring Science 20 (2006): 386–393.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Perception of Partner
2.4 Sexual Satisfaction
1.
“Regression results further revealed that [pornography] viewing frequency played a unique role in predicting sexual and relationship satisfaction for college students. Specifically, higher viewing frequency was associated with less sexual and relationship satisfaction when controlling for gender, religiosity, dating status and the number of [pornography] types viewed. The number of [pornography] types viewed was not associated with either satisfaction variable. … What is also noteworthy is that frequency of [pornography] use was predictive even when controlling for dating status which understandably was highly predictive of sexual and relationship satisfaction.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional.

  1. Elizabeth M. Morgan, “Associations between Young Adults’ Use of Sexually Explicit Materials and Their Sexual Preferences, Behaviors, and Satisfaction,” Journal of Sex Research 48, no. 6 (2011): 520–530.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Satisfaction
2.
“This combination reveals that, despite having a well-defined set of preferences and experiences, individuals frequently using [pornography] are nonetheless less satisfied with these experiences. This difference could reflect a disconnect between their preferences and their actual sexual and relationship experiences, suggesting that [pornography] viewing may indeed set up young adults to expect unrealistic sexual encounters.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional.

  1. Elizabeth M. Morgan, “Associations between Young Adults’ Use of Sexually Explicit Materials and Their Sexual Preferences, Behaviors, and Satisfaction,” Journal of Sex Research 48, no. 6 (2011): 520–530.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Satisfaction Sexual Scripts
3.
In a survey of 487 college men aged 18–29 in the United States, researchers found that “the more pornography a man watches, the more likely he was to use it during sex, request particular pornographic sex acts of his partner, deliberately conjure images of pornography during sex to maintain arousal, and have concerns over his own sexual performance and body image. Further, higher pornography use was negatively associated with enjoying sexually intimate behaviors with a partner. We conclude that pornography provides a powerful heuristic model which is implicated in men’s expectations and behaviors during sexual encounters.”
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Cross-sectional.

  1. Chyng Sun, Ana Bridges, Jennifer A. Johnson, and Matthew B. Ezzell, “Pornography and the Male Sexual Script: An Analysis of Consumption and Sexual Relations,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 45 no. 4 (2016): 983-994.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Satisfaction Sexual Scripts
4.
Spouse’s pornography use is negatively associated with sexual satisfaction in marriage.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Cameron C. Brown, Jason S. Carroll, Jeremy B. Yorgason, Dean M. Busby, Brian J. Willoughby, and Jeffry H. Larson, “A Common-fate Analysis of Pornography Acceptance, Use, and Sexual Satisfaction among Heterosexual Married Couples,” Archives of Sexual Behavior (2016) doi:10.1007/s10508-016-0732-4
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Sexual Satisfaction
2.5 Objectification
2.
“A single twenty-something graphic designer told me he would find himself in bars, berating himself over the way he scanned potential dates. ‘I’d be saying, ‘No, her breasts are too small, she’s not worth it,’ then wonder, ‘Who have I become? Why am I judging women like this.’”
  1. Pamela Paul, “From Pornography to Porno to Porn: How Porn Became the Norm,” in The Social Costs of Pornography, edited by James R. Stoner Jr. and Donna M. Hughes, 3–20. Princeton, New Jersey: Witherspoon Institute, 2010.
Relationships
Objectification
3.
“Countless men have described to me how, while using pornography, they have lost the ability to relate to or be close to women … They found the way they looked at women in real life warping to fit the pornography fantasies they consumed onscreen. Their daily interactions with women became pornified. Their relationships soured. They had trouble relating to women as individual human beings. They worried about the way they saw their daughters and girls their daughters’ age.”
  1. Pamela Paul, “From Pornography to Porno to Porn: How Porn Became the Norm,” in The Social Costs of Pornography, edited by James R. Stoner Jr. and Donna M. Hughes, 3–20. Princeton, New Jersey: Witherspoon Institute, 2010.
Relationships
Objectification
4.
“Soft-core pornography has a very negative effect on men as well. The problem with soft-core pornography is that it’s voyeurism—it teaches men to view women as objects rather than to be in relationships with women as human beings.”
  1. Gary Brooks (as quoted in Pamela Paul, “From Pornography to Porno to Porn: How Porn Became the Norm,” in The Social Costs of Pornography, edited by James R. Stoner Jr. and Donna M. Hughes, 3–20. Princeton, New Jersey: Witherspoon Institute, 2010.
Relationships
Objectification
6.
Pornography use was indirectly linked to attitudes of violence against women, by means of viewing women as sex objects. In other words, men were more likely to be accepting of violence against women, insofar that they believed that women were sex objects.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Correlational

  1. Paul J. Wright and Robert S. Tokunaga, “Men’s Objectifying Media Consumption, Objectification of Women, and Attitudes Supportive of Violence against Women,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 45, no. 4 (2016): 955-964.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Objectification Violence
9.
Previous partners’ pornography use (a) directly predicted interpersonal sexual objectification, internalization, and eating disorder symptomatology and (b) indirectly predicted body surveillance and body shame through internalization. In hierarchical regressions, previous partners’ pornography use inversely predicted self-esteem and body appreciation and positively predicted relationship anxiety and negative affect.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Tracy L. Tylka and Ashley M. K. Van Diest, “You Looking at Her ‘Hot’ Body May not be ‘Cool’ for Me: Integrating Male Partners’ Pornography Use into Objectification Theory for Women,” 39, no. 1 (2015): 67-84.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Objectification
2.6 Relationship Quality
4.
Interaction effects revealed, however, that the negative effect of porn use on marital quality applied to husbands, but not wives. In fact, post-estimation predicted values indicated that wives who viewed pornography more frequently reported higher marital quality than those who viewed it less frequently or not at all.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Samuel L. Perry, “Does Viewing Pornography Reduce Marital Quality Over Time? Evidence from Longitudinal Data,” Archives of Sexual Behavior (2016) doi:10.1007/s10508-016-0770-y
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
5.
The marriages that were most negatively affected were those of married men who were viewing pornography at the highest frequencies (once a day or more).These levels of porn use were statistically extreme and may be suggestive of an addiction or otherwise compulsive behavior that could itself have a negative effect on romantic relationships.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Samuel L. Perry, “Does Viewing Pornography Reduce Marital Quality Over Time? Evidence from Longitudinal Data,” Archives of Sexual Behavior (2016) doi:10.1007/s10508-016-0770-y
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
Addiction Compulsion
6.
In particular, findings suggest that pornography can reduce satisfaction with partners and relationships through contrast effects, reduce commitment by increasing the appeal of relationship alternatives, and increase acceptance of infidelity.
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Theoretical/Review.

  1. Kyler Rasmussen, “A Historical and Empirical Review of Pornography and Romantic Relationships: Implications for Family Researchers,” Journal of Family Theory & Review 8, no. 2 (2016): 173-191.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
10.
Results suggested that greater discrepancies between partners in pornography use were related to less relationship satisfaction, less stability, less positive communication, and more relational aggression.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Brian J. Willoughby, Jason S. Carroll, Dean M. Busby, and Cameron C. Brown, “Differences in Pornography Use Among Couples: Associations with Satisfaction, Stability, and Relationship Processes,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 45, no. 1 (2016): 145-158.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
11.
Results generally suggested that discrepancies in pornography use at the couple level are related to negative couple outcomes. Specifically, pornography differences may alter specific couple interaction processes which, in turn, may influence relationship satisfaction and stability.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Brian J. Willoughby, Jason S. Carroll, Dean M. Busby, and Cameron C. Brown, “Differences in Pornography Use Among Couples: Associations with Satisfaction, Stability, and Relationship Processes,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 45, no. 1 (2016): 145-158.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
12.
Longitudinally, the link between SEIM use and relationship quality seems to work both ways, but only for husbands. Husbands in poor relationships use more SEIM and more SEIM among husbands leads to poorer relationships
PR Peer Reviewed
Editor's Note

Longitudinal

  1. Linda D. Muusses, Peter Kerkhof, and Catrin Finkenauer, “Internet Pornography and Relationship Quality: A Longitudinal Study of Within and Between Partner Effects of Adjustment, Sexual Satisfaction and Sexually Explicit Internet,” Computers in Human Behavior 45 (2015): 77-84.
Relationships
Peer Reviewed
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Society

Society

3.1 Pornography Usage in Society
2.
A 2014 survey conducted by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) that polled 500 teens found that two-thirds of boys and three-fourths of girls believe porn causes unrealistic attitudes about sex. Two out of three respondents, both boys and girls, believe porn can be addictive, and 62 percent of boys and 78 percent of girls believe porn can negatively impact young people’s views on sex and relationships. Seventy-seven percent of boys and 83 percent of girls said “it’s too easy for young people to accidentally see pornography online.”
  1. 500 Online Interviews amongst UK Adults aged 18 (2014, June). Retrieved October 8, 2014, from Institute for Public Policy Research: http://www.ippr.org/assets/media/publications/attachments/OP4391-IPPR-Data- Tables.pdf.
Society
Prevalence
4.
“Although pornography is nothing new, the proximity of the sex industry to the public and private squares is new. In the past, the triple-x bookstore and restricted movie theater were tangible buffers between sexually explicit material and minors, as well as adults who did not want to be exposed to ‘dirty pictures.’ Today, anyone with a cable or an Internet connection has access to a smorgasbord of sexual content, including obscene content not protected by the First Amendment. Moreover, the sex industry has unprecedented access to those who are technologically connected, and it capitalizes on this contact with stunning effectiveness, not to mention blatant disregard for those who may be harmed (not just offended) in the process.”
  1. Mary Anne Layden, “Pornography and Violence: A New look at the Research,” in James R. Stoner, Jr. and Donna M. Hughes, eds. The Social Costs of Pornography: A Collection of Papers. Princeton, NJ: Witherspoon Institute (2010), 70.
Society
Prevalence
6.
“The sex industry plays on the ever more transgressive nature of the pornographic content, mainstreaming what in former times would only have been found in seedy, marginal, pornographic emporiums. What is most disturbing about all this information is that not only is the sex industry big business but that the selling of its ‘products’—pornography, prostitution, sex tourism, mail order brides—all depending on the commodification of mostly women and children, has become much more acceptable, more normal, and even fashionable and ‘cool.’ And anyone who raises criticisms of the industry and its turning of sexual exploitation into ‘sex’ is labeled out of touch, moralistic and repressed. Ultimately, the sex industry has made sexual exploitation not only normal but respectable. … Many women have commented that many men seem incapable of having sexual relationships or, for that matter, genuine emotional relationships with women who don’t act like women in pornography.”
  1. Janice Raymond, “Public Hearing on ‘The Impact of the Sex Industry in the EU,” Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities, European Parliament, January 19, 2004” (Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, New York), http://www.europarl.europa.eu/hearings/20040119/femm/raymond.pdf
Society
Prevalence
7.
“When a girl or boy grows up in a toxic sexual atmosphere, their inhibitions are lowered to the point that accessing porn seems a natural progression. The sexualized climate our children are growing up in is a manufactured process, not an organic one. The sexualized landscape children are now forced to inhabit reshapes their attitudes to sex and their desires, and it starts long before they learn to read or write.”
  1. Maggie Hamilton, “Groomed to Consume Porn: How Sexualized Marketing Targeting Children,” in Big Porn Inc., edited by Melinda Tankard Reist and Abigail Bray, 16–24. North Melbourne, Australia: Spinifex Press, 2011.
Society
Prevalence
3.2 Pornography and Sexual Violence
1.
Researchers drew the lists of 250 best-selling and 250 most-rented pornographic videos as published monthly by AVN. They pulled the 30 top videos on each list from December 2004 through June 2005 and deleted duplications, leaving a list of 275 titles from which to work. Fifty titles were randomly selected and the 304 scenes among them were analyzed. In that analysis, the researchers found: “88.2% contained physical aggression, principally spanking, gagging, and slapping, while 48.7% of scenes contained verbal aggression, primarily name-calling.” “On the whole, the pornographic scenes analyzed in this study were aggressive; only 10.2% (n 31) of scenes did not contain an aggressive act. Across all scenes, a total of 3,375 verbally and physically aggressive acts were observed. Of these, 632 were coded as instances of verbal aggression and 2,743 were coded as instances of physical aggression. On average, scenes had 11.52 acts of either verbal or physical aggression (SD 15.04) and ranged from none to 128. Physical aggression (M 9.31, SD 12.30) was much more common than verbal aggression (M 2.13, SD 4.01), occurring in 88.2% (n 268) of the scenes, whereas expressions of verbal aggression occurred in 48.7% (n 148) of the scenes.” “When aggressed against, 95.1% (n 3,206) of targets responded with either expressions of pleasure (e.g., encouragement, sexual moans) or neutrally (e.g., no change in facial expression or interruption to actions).” “Perpetrators of aggression were usually male, whereas targets of aggression were overwhelmingly female. Targets most often showed pleasure or responded neutrally to the aggression.” “Male character ejaculation almost always occurred outside the female character’s vagina, most frequently in her mouth (58.6%; n 178).” “Women were overwhelmingly the targets of aggressive acts. Across all acts of aggression, both physical and verbal, 94.4% (n 3,191) were directed toward women. Men were the perpetrators of aggression more than twice as often as women, committing 70.3% (n 2,373) of the aggressive acts recorded. In contrast, women were perpetrators of 29.4% (n 991) of all aggressive acts. Even when women were perpetrators, their targets were frequently other women (17.7%; n 598). Men were targets of only 4.2% (n 143) of aggressive acts perpetrated by women. Male-to-male aggression was present in only 0.3% (n 11) of the recorded instances and was most often verbal (only 4 instances of physical aggression with a male perpetrator and a male target were recorded).” “Women were verbally insulted or referred to in derogatory terms 534 times, whereas men experienced similar verbal assaults in only 65 instances” “The number of main characters that were portrayed in a given scene ranged from 1 to 19, with an average of 3.23. Males comprised 53.1% of the main characters.” “A total of 9.9% (n 30) of scenes analyzed contained positive behaviors.” “Sexuality, as portrayed in these popular videos, was primarily aggressive and positive behaviors were the exception rather than the rule.” The Bridges study 1 found that 41 percent of popular pornographic scenes depicted rectal followed by oral penetration.
PR Peer Reviewed
  1. Donald L. Hilton, “Pornography Addiction—A Supranormal Stimulus Considered in the Context of Neuroplasticity,” Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology 3 (2013): 20767.
  2. 1—Ana J. Bridges, Robert Wosnitzer, Erica Scharrer, Chyng Sun, and Rachael Liberman, “Aggression and Sexual Behavior in Best-Selling Pornography Videos: A Content Analysis Update,” Violence against Women 16, no. 10 (2010): 1065–1085.
Society
Peer Reviewed
Violence
2.