Pornography and Sociosexual Attitudes and Behaviors in a Nationally Representative Survey: Potential Pandemic and Method Effects

ABSTRACT

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The General Social Survey (GSS) switched from an in-person interview to a self-administered online survey for its most recent data collection. This modality switch makes it possible to compare sociosexual data gathered using the GSS’s last in-person survey (2018) to its first-ever self-administered online survey (2021), an oft suggested format for reducing social desirability bias. This study compared sociosexual data collected in the 2018 GSS to the 2021 GSS, with a primary focus on pornography use. Results suggested that among men neither the direction nor the magnitude of the association between pornography use and more nontraditional sociosexual attitudes and behaviors are affected by whether surveys are conducted in-person or online; that among women the magnitude of the positive association between pornography use and certain nontraditional sexual behaviors could be attenuated by in-person interviews; a pandemic period increase in pornography use among both men and women; a pandemic period decrease in men’s nonrelational sexual behavior; and that men’s and women’s reporting of certain nontraditional sexual attitudes may be reduced by in-person interviews. It is important to emphasize that alternative explanations for 2018–2021 change are possible. The goal of the present study was to promote interpretive dialogue rather than definitive answers.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Availability of Data and Material

GSS data and material are publically available at https://gss.norc.org/get-the-data.

Notes

¹ A small number of cases in both the 2018 (n = 304) and 2021 (n = 460) GSS were carried out over the phone. The analytical samples for each year were smaller (sometimes considerably so – see subsequent note). Further reducing the utility of 2018 to 2021 phone-sample comparisons, the 2021 phone sample was much older (M = 55.34) than the 2018 phone sample (M = 42.81) and age is a known correlate of pornography use and sociosexual attitudes and behaviors in the GSS (Wright, 2013; Wright et al., 2013).

² To avoid respondent fatigue, not all participants in a particular GSS survey are asked all of that year’s questions. Further, in a given year, different sets of participants are asked different sets of questions. Thus, as noted in the tables, analytical sample sizes varied by analysis.

³ Because the GSS asks about pornographic movie exposure (i.e., exposure to “x-rated” movies), it will undercount pornography consumers who only view other types of pornography (e.g., who view still images, but not videos). Research using multiple-item measures consistently finds that people who view pornographic movies are highly likely to view other types of pornographic content (Peter & Valkenburg, 2010, 2011; Wright & Herbenick, 2022; Wright et al., 2022). Nevertheless, it is important to remember that GSS studies of pornography use likely underestimate the overall percentage of U.S. adults who consume pornography.