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: Rothman, E.F., Kaczmarsky, C., Burke, N., Jansen, E., Baughman, A.
Published October 2014
Abstract
Information about the pornography-viewing habits of urban, low-income youth of color in the United States is lacking. Approximately one-fifth expressed a preference for pornography featuring actors of their same race/ethnicity. A clear limitation of the existing body of knowledge related to youth pornography use is that the majority has been conducted using samples of college students or outside the United States, including, for example, in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Sierra Leone, Sweden, and Switzerland. The results of these studies may not be generalizable to non-college-attending or U.S. youth, because it has been established that adolescent sexual behavior varies by nation, age, gender, and culture.
Methods
A convenience sample of youth was recruited from the pediatric emergency department of a large, urban, Safety Net hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts. The patient population at this hospital is 60% Black, 15% Hispanic, 15% White, 2% Asian, and 8% multiracial or another race; more than 80% are living in poverty. The emergency department setting was used because it was convenient and resource-efficient for the investigators.
This study was designed to answer the following using a sample of 16- to 18-year-old urban-residing, low-income Black or Hispanic youth: (1) What types of pornography do youth report watching; where and for what purpose? (2) Do youth feel that pornography exposure has an impact on their own sexual behaviors? and (3) How do parents react to their pornography use?
Results
The following themes emerged from interviews with 23 youth: (1) Youth primarily reported watching pornography that featured one-on-one sexual intercourse but also reported having seen extreme pornography (e.g., public humiliation, incest); (2) youth reported watching pornography on home computers or smartphones, and that pornography was frequently watched in school; (3) youth reported watching for entertainment, for sexual stimulation, instructional purposes, and to alleviate boredom; many copied what they saw in pornography during their own sexual encounters; (4) pressure to make or to imitate pornography was an element of some unhealthy dating relationships; and (5) parents were generally described as unsupportive of youth’s use of pornography but under-equipped to discuss it.