The Influence of Pornography on Sexual Scripts and Hooking Up Among Emerging Adults in College

Abstract

The explosive growth in access to the Internet has led to a commensurate increase in the availability, anonymity, and affordability of pornography. An emerging body of research has shown associations between pornography and certain behaviors and attitudes; yet, how pornography actually influences these outcomes has not been documented. In two studies (Study 1 N = 969; Study 2 N = 992) we examined the hypothesis that pornography influences potentially risky sexual behavior (hooking up) among emerging adults via sexual scripts. Our results demonstrate that more frequent viewing of pornography is associated with a higher incidence of hooking up and a higher number of unique hook up partners. We replicated these effects both cross-sectionally and longitudinally while accounting for the stability of hook ups over the course of an academic semester. We also demonstrated that 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. Finally, we provided evidence that more permissive sexual scripts mediated the association between more frequent pornography viewing and hooking up. We discuss these findings with an eye toward mitigating potential personal and public health risks among emerging adults.

What Types of Pornography Do People Use and Do They Cluster? Assessing Types and Categories of Pornography Consumption in a Large-Scale Online Sample

“…Pornography research has typically focused on the prevalence rates of pornography consumption (Peter & Valkenburg, 2006;Wright, 2013;Ybarra & Mitchell, 2005); the potential effects of pornography consumption (Braithwaite, Coulson, Keddington, & Fincham, 2015;Hald & Malamuth, 2015;Peter & Valkenburg, 2011;Sinkovic, Štulhofer, & Bozic, 2012;Štulhofer, Schmidt, & Landripet, 2009); personal motivations for pornography consumption (Sabina, Wolak, & Finkelhor, 2008;Sørensen & Kjørholt, 2007); and situational, contextual, and personal variables associated with these areas of pornography research (Hald, 2006;Hald & Mulya, 2013;McKee, 2007). However, little is known about which types of pornography consumers most frequently use beyond porn sites' publications of the "most frequently used search terms" or corresponding "big data" analyses of these or millions of related search terms and histories (Ogas & Gaddam, 2011a, 2011b.…”

A Historical and Empirical Review of Pornography and Romantic Relationships: Implications for Family Researchers

“…Social learning theory (Bandura, ) suggests that as pornography consumers watch acts of aggression and violence or view sexist or degrading portrayals, they can adopt attitudes supportive of those behaviors and learn to enact them with their own partners (although they may also learn more varied sexual techniques in the process). Similarly, pornography may inform sexual scripts that increase the likelihood of infidelity (Braithwaite et al, ), and consumers may unfairly compare their romantic partners or their own relationships to those they see in pornography (Zillmann & Bryant, ) or perceive those outside the relationship as better able to fill sexual needs (Gwinn et al, ). Taken together, these effects have the potential to be problematic in the context of a committed romantic relationship (Schneider, ) and may increase the likelihood of divorce (Shumway & Daines, ).…”

Pornography, Alcohol, and Male Sexual Dominance

“…The 3 AM has served as a theoretical referent in a variety of media sexual socialization studies involving men's attitudes and behaviors (Braithwaite, Coulson, Keddington, & Fincham, 2014;Hald, Malamuth, & Lange, 2013;Hald & Mulya, 2013;O'Hara, Gibbons, Gerrard, Li, & Sargent, 2012;Sevcikova, Serek, Barbovschi, & Daneback, 2014;Sun, Miezan, Lee, & Shim, 2014;Wright, 2013;Wright & Randall, 2012;Wright & Tokunaga, 2013).…”