What Is the Relationship Among Religiosity, Self-Perceived Problematic Pornography Use, and Depression Over Time?

Abstract

Previous studies suggest that religious people are more likely than nonreligious people to perceive their pornography use as problematic. For our 6-month longitudinal study, we recruited a sample of adults from TurkPrime.com to examine whether the interaction of religiosity and pornography consumption prospectively predicts more depressive symptoms 6 months later and whether this effect was mediated via perceptions that their pornography use was problematic (measured 3 months postbaseline). We constructed and validated our own measure of self-perceived problematic pornography use that included two factors: excessive pornography use and compulsive pornography use. Contrary to our hypothesis, religiosity was not related to self-perceived problematic pornography use. For men, religiosity at baseline was associated with increased pornography use at 6 months. For both men and women, excessive pornography use at 3 months was associated with increased depression at 6 months. For men, depression at baseline was associated with self-perceived problematic pornography use at 3 months. For women, higher self-perceived problematic pornography use at 3 months predicted lower frequency of pornography use and higher depression at 6 months. Our findings are discussed in light of theories of depression, religious incongruence, and sexual scripts.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by an Office of Research and Creative Activities grant from Brigham Young University awarded to S. Gabe Hatch.