The relationship between sexual sensation seeking and problematic Internet pornography use: A moderated mediation model examining roles of online sexual activities and the third-person effect

Abstract

Background and aimsInternet pornography consumption is prevalent among college students and problematic for some, yet little is known regarding the psychological constructs underlying problematic Internet pornography use (PIPU). Drawing on the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution model, this study tested a model that sexual sensation seeking (SSS) would impact PIPU through online sexual activities (OSAs) and that this relationship would be influenced by the third-person effect (TPE; a social cognitive bias relating to perceived impacts on others as compared to oneself) in a gender-sensitive manner.MethodsA total of 808 Chinese college students (age range: 17–22 years, 57.7% male) were recruited and surveyed.ResultsMen scored higher than women on OSAs and PIPU and on each scale’s component factors. The relationship between SSS and PIPU was mediated by OSAs, and the TPE moderated this relationship: the predictive path (SSS to PIPU) was significant only in participants with high TPE. The moderated mediation model was not invariant across gender groups, with data suggesting that it accounted for a greater proportion of the variance in men as compared with women.Discussion and conclusionsThe findings suggest that SSS may operate through participation in OSAs to lead to PIPU, and this relationship is particularly relevant for college-aged males scoring high on the TPE. These findings have implications for individuals who might be particularly vulnerable to developing PIPU and for guiding educational efforts and targeting interventions in college-aged students. The extent to which these findings extend to other age groups and cultures warrants further examination.

<p>Spotlight on Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder: A Systematic Review of Research on Women</p>

“…In the context of the prevalence of CSB, research indicated that fewer women (as compared to men) reported viewing pornographic materials over the last 6 months, 44 they reported less pornography time use 44,[46][47][48]77 and exhibited lower rates of feeling urges to pornography, 45 a smaller percentage of them self-identified as addicted to pornography based on subjective feeling, 14 and fewer women reported symptoms related to CSB, such as difficulties in controlling sexual thoughts and behaviors, engaging in sexual activity to cope with unpleasant emotional states, and experiencing negative consequences because of these sexual behaviors. [50][51][52][53][55][56][57]63,75,77,89,90,109,111,134,136 It is worth noting that prior research focused on measuring PPU and masturbation and has been conducted almost exclusively in men, and prior work has not included a deeper analysis of patterns of sexual functioning of women who reported issues related to CSB. We also note that the subjective assessment of addiction to pornography does not necessarily reflect a CSBD diagnosis in women.…”

“…The contribution of personality factors to ratings of CSB symptoms was examined in 10 studies. 77,[103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110] In a study of Shimoni and colleagues, 103 81 women and 186 men were recruited via internet sites used for finding sexual partners. Results of this investigation showed that women (as compared to men) obtained lower scores on Sexual Addiction Screening Test (SAST), 111 they were less open to experiences and more neurotic (as assessed by the Big Five Index).…”

Untangling the Porn Web: Creating an Organizing Framework for Pornography Research Among Couples

“…Other factors that deserve attention are sensation seeking, hypermasculinity, and hyperfemininity. A study showed that sexual sensation seeking (Chen et al, 2018) may play a contributing role in predicting problematic pornography use, particularly for men. Hypermasculinity (sometimes termed gender role-conflict) has been linked to an increased likelihood of both pornography use frequency and problematic pornography use (Szymanski & Stewart-Richardson, 2014).…”

The Assessment of Problematic Internet Pornography Use: A Comparison of Three Scales with Mixed Methods

“…Through the systematic review process conducted, we decided to retain three scales that were developed to measure problematic pornography use, even if not all of the three scales were specifically designed to measure internet pornography, as a large majority of participants used online pornography, and the developers of these scales suggested that they could be used to measure problematic IPU [14,15], additionally we replaced "pornography" into "internet pornography" in the Chinese version. We selected these three scales for the following reasons: (1) they include fewer items and are thus easily administered measures, (2) all of them cover the core characteristics of IPU, such as loss control, (3) they are grounded in addiction components such as impaired control, conflict, salience [11], (4) they are applicable within the Chinese culture [16][17][18][19], and (5) they display strong test-retest (i.e., two weeks) reliability; consequently, these three previously validated scales were identified for further examination. First, the Short Internet Addiction Test Adapted to OSAs (s-IAT-sex), which has demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties [9].…”

“…First, the Short Internet Addiction Test Adapted to OSAs (s-IAT-sex), which has demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties [9]. However, this scale has been validated only among men [5], and a large number of studies have shown that there are substantial gender differences in IPU [18,20,21]. Second, the Problematic Pornography Use Scale (PPUS) [15], which has been validated using a large sample; unfortunately, however, a valid cutoff score has not been specified for this measure.…”