Decades of studies from respected academic institutions, have demonstrated significant impacts of porn consumption for individuals, relationships, and society. "What’s the Research" aims to shed light on the expanding field of academic resources that showcase porn’s harms in a variety of ways. Below are selected excerpts from published studies on this issue.
The full study can be accessed here.
Authors: Wright, P.J., Bridges, A.J., Sun, C., Ezzell, M., Johnson, J.A.
Published August 2017
Abstract
Personal pornography viewing has been associated with lower sexual satisfaction in both experimental and observational research. The language used to hypothesize this relationship typically suggests that it is frequent viewing, rather than infrequent or only occasional viewing, that is responsible for any adverse effects. When the nature of the relationship between a predictor and a criterion depends on the levels of the predictor, a curvilinear relationship is indicated. Nevertheless, studies have assumed linearity in their analytical approach. Curvilinear relationships will go undetected unless they are specifically tested.
Methods
This article presents results from a survey of approximately 1,500 U.S. adults. Participants were recruited over the course of a year through departmental and college-wide e-mail announcements, posted campus flyers, and introductory courses. Informed consent was obtained electronically.
Participants were asked questions about their pornography viewing and sexual satisfaction (N = 1,513). Participants were 22.59 years of age on average (SD= 8.03) and their demographic breakdown was 61.50% women (38.50% men), 87.90% college students (12.10% nonstudents), 50% in a romantic relationship (50% not in a romantic relationship), and 60% religious (40% not religious).
Results
Quadratic analyses indicated a curvilinear relationship between personal pornography viewing and sexual satisfaction in the form of a predominately negative, concave downward curve. The nature of the curvilinearity did not differ as a function of participants’ gender, relationship status, or religiosity. But the negative acceleration was slightly more pronounced for men than for women, for people not in a relationship than for people in a relationship, and for religious people than for nonreligious people. For all groups, negative simple slopes were present when viewing reached once a month or more. These results are correlational only.