Stress Susceptibility, Affective Responses toward Acute Stressors and Emotion Regulation Strategies in the Context of Problematic Pornography Use

Abstract

The problematic use of pornography (PPU) is one phenotype of compulsive sexual behavior disorder. Stress has been identified as central factor involved in dysregulated behaviors, acting both as cause and consequence. Overall, 99 heterosexual males participated in an experimental study. Experience of early childhood trauma, chronic stress, acute responses toward a stressor, emotion regulation strategies, and coping were associated with symptoms of PPU. Alterations within neural stress circuits due to childhood trauma and chronic stress may interact with neural circuits of reward and executive control. Coping with acute, chronic and past stressors should be an essential component in treatment approaches.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Data availability statement

Data available on request from the authors

Additional information

Funding

The work of all authors on this article was carried out in the context of the Research Unit ACSID, FOR2974, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – 411232260.