COMMENT: This paper is interesting because it found that occasional porn use was associated with greater sexual satisfaction, while use with any regularity was associated with reduced sexual satisfaction for both men and women, partnered and unpartnered, religious and non-religious. The “neutral” frequency point was “once a month” for men and “a few times a year” for women (suggesting that women were more negatively affected). With use above these frequencies sexual satisfaction declined in both men and women.
Excerpts:
… The nature of the relationship between pornography consumption and satisfaction was similar whether or not people were single or in a relationship and whether or not religious faith was or was not important to them. … This suggests that any impacts of regular pornography use on decreased satisfaction are not relationally bound or due entirely to cognitive dissonance or self-judgment users feel post-consumption
… The applied implication of this finding is straightforward – individuals who consume pornography on occasion may feel more sexually satisfied as a result, while individuals who consume pornography with increasing regularity may ultimately come to feel less sexually satisfied.
Wright, Paul J., Ekra Miezan, and Chyng Sun.
Journal of Media Psychology (2018).
Abstract
This research report assessed pornography consumption and sexual satisfaction in a heterosexual sample of Korean adults. Consistent with prior studies, the linear association between pornography consumption and satisfaction was negative and significant. However, the addition of a quadratic term to the equation increased model fit. Interaction effect analyses revealed an inverted U relationship for both men and women, such that occasional pornography consumption was associated with higher satisfaction, while consumption with any degree of regularity was associated with lower satisfaction. Further assessments showed that the negative relationship between more regular pornography consumption and lower satisfaction was slightly more marked for women, while the positive relationship between intermittent pornography consumption and higher satisfaction was slightly more marked for men. The nature of the relationship between pornography consumption and satisfaction was similar for religious and nonreligious people and for people in a relationship and not in a relationship.
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