Pornography consumption and psychosomatic and depressive symptoms among Swedish adolescents: a longitudinal study

Figures & data

Table 1. Correlations (Spearman’s rho) between dependent variables.

Item	Pornography consumption at follow-up	Psychosomatic symptoms	Depressive symptoms
Pornography consumption at follow-up/P^a	Girls = 1	Girls = 0.096/ns	Girls = 0.153/0.017
	Boys = 1	Boys=–0.012/ns	Boys = 0.019/ns
Psychosomatic symptoms/P^a	Girls = 0.096/ns	Girls = 1	Girls = 0.647/<0.001
	Boys = –0.012/ns	Boys = 1	Boys = 0.539/<0.001
Depressive symptoms/P^a	Girls = 0.153/0.017	Girls = 0.647/<0.001	Girls = 1
	Boys = 0.019/ns	Boys = 0.539/<0.001	Boys = 1

^a Significance: P < 0.05.

ns: non-significant.

Table 2. Sociodemographic background in relation to pornography consumption at follow-up.

Items	Pornography consumption	Psychosomatic symptoms	Depressive symptoms
	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)
Sex
All	2.96 (1.72)	15.88 (4.18)	2.39 (2.43)
Boys	4.25 (1.31)	13.97 (3.73)	1.79 (2.04)
Girls	1.74 (1.02), P^a < 0.001	17.68 (3.77), P^a < 0.001	2.95 (2.63), P^a < 0.001
Ethnic background
Born in Sweden (all)	2.94 (1.71)	15.90 (4.18)	2.33 (2.45)
Born outside Sweden (all)	3.29 (1.76), ns	15.46 (4.29), ns	3.21 (2.22), ns
Born in Sweden (boys)	4.31 (1.24)	13.91 (3.70)	1.70 (2.04)
Born outside Sweden (boys)	3.84 (1.77), P^a = 0.031	14.26 (3.99), ns	2.47 (1.95), ns
Born in Sweden (girls)	1.73 (1.05)	17.66 (3.78)	2.89 (2.64)
Born outside Sweden (girls)	2.11 (1.03), ns	18.00 (3.97), ns	4.78 (1.99), ns
Household
Living with two parents (all)	3.08 (1.72)	15.52 (4.06)	2.24 (2.36)
Living with one parent (all)	2.74 (1.71), ns	16.63 (4.15), P^a = 0.009	2.64 (2.52), ns
Living with two parents (boys)	4.32 (1.28)	13.89 (3.74)	1.73 (2.03)
Living with one parent (boys)	4.12 (1.39), ns	14.29 (3.72), ns	1.95 (2.08), ns
Living with two parents (girls)	1.72 (0.94)	17.30 (3.64)	2.79 (2.57)
Living with one parent (girls)	1.72 (1.09), ns	18.36 (3.59), ns	3.15 (2.70), ns
Dwelling
Parent-owned (all)	2.99 (1.73)	15.75 (4.15)	2.32 (2.36)
Rented (all)	2.86 (1.68), ns	16.26 (4.27), ns	2.58 (2.65), ns
Parent-owned (boys)	4.29 (1.33)	14.00 (3.74)	1.73 (2.01)
Rented (boys)	4.09 (1.26), ns	13.87 (3.73), ns	1.96 (2.14), ns
Parent-owned (girls)	1.73 (0.97)	17.44 (3.82)	2.89 (2.52)
Rented (girls)	1.77 (1.18), ns	18.38 (3.55), ns	3.13 (2.95), ns
Father’s occupation
Working/studying (all)	2.96 (1.72)	15.76 (4.08)	2.31 (2.39)
Unemployed/on sick leave (all)	2.84 (1.72), ns	17.22 (5.07), ns	3.30 (2.71), P^a = 0.001
Working/studying (boys)	4.26 (1.30)	14.02 (3.65)	1.73 (2.01)
Unemployed/on sick leave (boys)	4.07 (1.58), ns	13.13 (4.82), ns	2.67 (2.32), ns
Working/studying (girls)	1.72 (1.00), ns	17.44 (3.77)	2.88 (2.59)
Unemployed/on sick leave (girls)	2.00 (1.27)	20.00 (2.30), P^a = 0.001	3.73 (2.91), P^a = 0.001
Mother’s occupation
Working/studying (all)	2.96 (1.73)	15.85 (4.12)	2.38 (2.42)
Unemployed/on sick leave (all)	2.92 (1.52), ns	16.19 (4.92), ns	2.53 (2.68), ns
Working/studying (boys)	4.29 (1.31)	13.96 (3.63)	1.82 (2.04)
Unemployed/on sick leave (boys)	3.75 (1.25), ns	14.10 (4.68), ns	1.40 (2.06), ns
Working/studying (girls)	1.73 (1.02)	17.59 (3.76)	2.88 (2.62)
Unemployed/on sick leave (girls)	1.88 (1.15), ns	18.18 (3.94), ns	3.94 (2.74), ns
Study program
University preparation (all)	3.04 (1.72)	15.66 (4.27)	2.36 (2.45)
Vocational (all)	2.83 (1.71), ns	16.18 (4.04), ns	2.43 (2.42), ns
University preparation (boys)	4.36 (1.22)	13.58 (3.52)	1.72 (1.98)
Vocational (boys)	4.08 (1.43), ns	14.54 (3.96), ns	1.89 (2.13), ns
University preparation (girls)	1.74 (0.99)	17.73 (3.94)	2.99 (2.69)
Vocational (girls)	1.75 (1.07), ns	17.61 (3.55), ns	2.90 (2.57), ns

Mean and standard deviation (SD).

^a Student’s t test, significance: P < 0.05.

ns: non-significant.

Figure 1. Interaction between sex and ethnic background in relation to frequency of pornography consumption. Blue bars = boys; green bars = girls. For further information about the interaction, please see Table 4.

Table 3. Mean value pornography consumption, depressive symptoms, and psychosomatic symptoms at baseline.

Item	Pornography consumption	Psychosomatic symptoms	Depressive symptoms
	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)
All	2.72 (1.77)	14.89 (4.10)	2.1 (2.36)
Boys	4.03 (1.47)	13 (3.71)	1.52 (2.02)
Girls	1.49 (0.94)	16.49 (3.80)	2.65 (2.53)

Mean and standard deviation (SD).

Table 4. Main and interaction effects in relation to pornography consumption at follow-up (adjusted R² = 0.689).

Item	F	P^a	Eta-square
1. Sex	4.13	0.04	0.009
2. Ethnic background	13.84	<0.001	0.030
3. Household		ns	0.000
4. Dwelling	5.13	0.02	0.011
5. High school program	5.17	0.02	0.012
6. Pornography consumption at baseline	98.81	<0.001	0.183
1 × 2	14.52	<0.001	0.032
1 × 6	4.50	0.03	0.010
2 × 4	5.27	0.02	0.012
2 × 5	3.21	0.07	0.007
2 × 6	13.98	<0.001	0.031
5 × 3	2.97	0.05	0.013
5 × 6	3.38	0.07	0.008

^a Significance: P < 0.05 main effects, P < 0.1 interaction effects.

ns: non-significant.

Table 5. Main and interaction effects of psychosomatic symptoms at follow-up in relation to pornography consumption (adjusted R² = 0.254).

Item	F	P^a	Eta-square
1. Sex	54.84	<0.001	0.110
2. Household	4.84	0.008	0.014
3. Father’s occupational status		ns	0.000
4. Mother’s occupational status		ns	0.002
5. High school program	6.24	0.01	0.014
6. Pornography consumption at baseline	5.93	0.01	0.013
7. Pornography consumption at follow-up		ns	0.005
1 × 3	7.75	0.006	0.017
2 × 4	5.01	0.007	0.022
5 × 6	10.44	0.001	0.023
6 × 7	3.48	0.06	0.008

^a Significance: P < 0.05 main effects, P < 0.1 interaction effects.

ns: non-significant.

Figure 2. Interaction between ethnic background and pornography consumption in relation to depressive symptoms. Blue bars denote users with lower pornography consumption at follow-up, whereas green bars denote higher consumption. For further information about the interaction, please see Table 6.

Table 6. Main and interaction effects of depressive symptoms at follow-up in relation to pornography consumption (adjusted R² = 0.122) analyzed with a general linear model and complementary statistics in a Poisson regression.

Item	F	P^a	Eta-square	Chi-square	P^a
1. Sex	7.28	0.007	0.016	27.863	<0.001
2. Ethnic background		ns	0.001	9.175	0.002
3. Household		ns	0.005	5.868	0.015
4. Father’s occupational status		ns	0.001	6.485	0.011
5. Mother’s occupational status		ns	0.002	1.246	0.264
6. Pornography consumption at baseline	12.10	0.001	0.027	12.589	0.050
1 × 2	5.33	0.02	0.012	0.143	0.706
1 × 5	5.58	0.02	0.013	4.907	0.027
1 × 6	12.46	<0.001	0.027	11.447	0.022
2 × 6	5.08	0.02	0.011	18.516	0.001
3 × 4	4.31	0.01	0.019	24.290	<0.001
3 × 5	2.85	0.05	0.013	6.786	0.009

^a Significance: P < 0.05 main effects, P < 0.1 interaction effects.

ns: non-significant.