Revisiting the Role of Pornography Use in the Confluence Model Theory of Sexual Aggression

Abstract

This research tested Confluence Model reasoning that pornography use should be related to sexual aggression among men who are high but not low in the predisposing risk factors of hostile masculinity (HM) and impersonal sexuality (IS). This hypothesis was examined with three online surveys of young adult males including an American Mechanical Turk sample (N1 = 1,528, Mage = 22.46 years); a national sample of Canadian students (N2 = 1,049, Mage = 20.89 years); and a national sample of Canadian non-students (N3 = 905, Mage = 21.66 years). As expected, synergistic interactions between HM and IS reliably predicted self-reported sexual aggression across samples. Results with respect to interactions with pornography use were more complex. The Confluence Model hypothesis was supported when pornography use was operationalized as the use of nine specific magazines but it was not supported when pornography use was operationalized with a contemporary inclusive approach that included use of internet materials. These discrepant findings are difficult to account for with Confluence Model theorizing and highlight the non-equivalence of pornography use measures in survey research.