Adolescent religiousness as a protective factor against pornography use

Seeing is (Not) Believing: How Viewing Pornography Shapes the Religious Lives of Young Americans

“…Comparatively fewer studies have focused on pornography use among American adolescents and emerging adults. Similar to Americans in general, pornography is more often consumed by young Americans who are male, more culturally and sexually permissive, open to risky-behaviors, and—though less consistently than for Americans in general—less religious by various measures (Carroll et al 2008; Goodson et al 2001; Grubbs et al 2015; Hardy et al 2013; Nelson et al 2010; Owens et al 2012; Peter and Valkenburg 2016; Regnerus 2007; Short et al 2015; Smith and Denton 2005; Smith and Snell 2009). Below, we consider more closely the connection between religion and pornography use among American adolescents and emerging adults specifically.…”

“…On the one hand, some studies do affirm that religious commitment is indeed negatively associated with viewing pornography (e.g., Carroll et al 2008; Grubbs et al 2015; Hardy et al 2013; Nelson et al 2010; Regnerus 2007; Short et al 2015; Smith and Denton 2005). Focusing on 13–17 year old Americans in Wave 1 of the NSYR, Regnerus (2007) finds a near linear, negative relationship between monthly Internet pornography use and both worship attendance and religious salience (see also Hardy et al 2013; Smith and Denton 2005:223; Smith and Snell 2009:272).…”

“…On the one hand, some studies do affirm that religious commitment is indeed negatively associated with viewing pornography (e.g., Carroll et al 2008; Grubbs et al 2015; Hardy et al 2013; Nelson et al 2010; Regnerus 2007; Short et al 2015; Smith and Denton 2005). Focusing on 13–17 year old Americans in Wave 1 of the NSYR, Regnerus (2007) finds a near linear, negative relationship between monthly Internet pornography use and both worship attendance and religious salience (see also Hardy et al 2013; Smith and Denton 2005:223; Smith and Snell 2009:272). And in various studies with undergraduates, scholars also find that religiosity is negatively associated with any viewing of pornography (Grubbs et al 2015; Short et al 2015) and the frequency of viewing pornography (Carroll et al 2008; Nelson, Padilla-Walker, and Carrol 2010).…”

“…Though data are almost always cross-sectional or otherwise preclude testing for directionality, the general assumption in most studies that consider religious factors is that religiosity serves as the independent variable, diminishing pornography use among young Americans via internalized moral proscriptions and social control (Carroll et al, 2008; Hardy et al 2013; Peter and Valkenburg 2016; Smith and Denton 2005). While this is certainly true to some extent, research has yet to consider how the causal arrow may also be reversed; that is, whether pornography use may have a secularizing effect, serving to diminish religiosity among adolescents and emerging adults under certain circumstances.…”

Race and Trends in Pornography Viewership, 1973–2016: Examining the Moderating Roles of Gender and Religion

“…Numerous studies focusing on pornography viewership have left race or ethnicity out entirely, often because the studies consisted of essentially mono-racial samples of college students (e.g., Carroll et al, 2008;Nelson, Padilla-Walker, & Carroll, 2010) or populations in Western European nations where there were very few non-whites (e.g., Hald, 2006;Peter & Valkenburg, 2011). Others had sufficient numbers of non-whites, but chose not to consider race/ethnicity as an important characteristic worth including in analyses or reporting (e.g., Goodson, McCormick, and Evans, 2001;Grubbs et al, 2015;Hardy et al, 2013;Poulsen, Busby, and Galovan, 2013;Price et al, 2016;Short, Kasper, & Wetterneck, 2015).…”