Associations of Adolescents’ Pornography Viewing with their Romantic Relationship Skills and Behaviors

ABSTRACT

Research into adolescent pornography use has identified numerous individual-level behavioral and attitudinal correlates. However, associations between adolescents’ pornography viewing and their romantic relationships remain understudied. Furthermore, very little is known about adolescents’ watching pornography with their romantic partners (i.e., joint pornography use). The present study of adolescents (n = 755, 59.9% girls, M age = 15.72 years old [SD = 1.34]) is among the first attempts to link adolescents’ pornography viewing behaviors to their romantic relationship attitudes and behaviors. We hypothesized that adolescents’ viewing would be associated with poorer self-reported relationship skills, more negative relationship behaviors, and increased involvement in sexual activity, such as sexting. Partial support for these hypotheses was found. Frequency of overall viewing was associated with lower relationship and refusal skills. Lifetime joint pornography viewing was associated with higher rates of dating violence victimization and perpetration in the past six months and with more abusive behaviors from one’s partner and more verbal conflict in the current dating relationship. Results, though cross-sectional, suggest that pornography viewing in adolescence is associated with poorer romantic outcomes. Implications for adolescent development and for healthcare providers and educators are discussed.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge that this project was funded by Grant Number 90FM0089 from the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U. S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).