Cybersex Addiction in Heterosexual Female Users of Internet Pornography Can Be Explained by Gratification Hypothesis
AUTHOR(S)
PUBLISHED
2014 in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Vol. 17(8), pp. 505-511
KEY FINDINGS
- The main results of this study show that female internet pornography users rated Internet pornographic pictures as more arousing and reported greater craving due to Internet pornographic picture presentation compared with non-users - supporting the gratification hypothesis of cybersex addiction.
ABSTRACT
In the context of Internet addiction, cybersex is considered to be an Internet application in which users are at risk for developing addictive usage behavior. Regarding males, experimental research has shown that indicators of sexual arousal and craving in response to Internet pornographic cues are related to severity of cybersex addiction in Internet pornography users (IPU). Since comparable investigations on females do not exist, the aim of this study is to investigate predictors of cybersex addiction in heterosexual women.... READ FULL ABSTRACT
EXCERPTS
- "The main results of our study show that female IPU rated Internet pornographic pictures as more arousing and reported greater craving due to Internet pornographic picture presentation compared with NIPU. Moreover, the sexual arousal rating of pictures, craving, sensitivity to sexual excitation, problematic sexual behavior, and severity of psychological symptoms predicted tendencies toward cybersex addiction in IPU. Being in a relationship, number of sexual contacts, satisfaction with sexual contacts, and use of interactive cybersex were not associated with cybersex addiction."
- "The gratification hypothesis of cybersex addiction also seems to be valid for females. The findings emphasize the important role of anticipating and receiving sexual gratification within the development of cybersex addiction in heterosexual IPU comparable to those reported for males."
