Preliminary Insights from a U.S. Probability Sample on Adolescents’ Pornography Exposure, Media Psychology, and Sexual Aggression

Introduction

All along,Sexual aggression is recognized as a common public health crisis.Adolescence is an important time of sexual development.During this time, most people explore masturbation, first see pornography, and/or experience a range of partnered “firsts,” including their first kiss, oral sex, and/or vaginal intercourse.

The question of pornography’s influence on sexual aggression has a long and contentious history in the social and behavioral sciences.A variety of disciplines have provided valuable data and theorizing.Nevertheless,the vast majority of studies have focused on variables that,while involved in the psychology of any potential effects, are not directly indicative of the media psychology of pornography consumers.

The present paper tries to filled the vacancy and address these problems,focus on the need for additional,focus on the need for additional theoretical nuance and measurement specificity in the media psychology literature on pornography and sexual aggression.

This paper is based on three objectives:

• The first aim is to examine whether the theoretically important but as of yet unstudied media psychology variables of pornography motivation, pornography realism, and pornography identification are related to sexual aggression.
• The second aim is to add findings from a population-based probability survey to a literature mostly consisting of non-probability samples.
• The third aim is to add results from a teenage sample to a literature mostly consisting of adult samples.

Based on past research,we can find several surprising conclusions.First, aggression is notan uncommon feature of contemporary, popular pornography. Second, while men are more likely to be perpetrators than women, women have also been documented as perpetrating aggressive acts. Third, targets of aggression rarely respond by displaying displeasure or outrage. Instead, they generally offer no emotional response or show signs of pleasure.

Hypotheses

Given Wright’s (2011, 2014, 2020) script acquisition, activation,application model puts forth the following hypotheses：

H1: Sexual aggression is more probable among those who have been exposed to pornography than among those who have not.

H2: A stronger motivation to learn about sex from pornography is associated with a higher probability of sexual aggression.

H3: The probability of sexual aggression increases as the perception of pornography’s realism increases.

H4: The probability of sexual aggression increases as identification with actors in pornography increases.

Results

In the research,consistent with expectations, having been exposed to pornography and perceiving pornography as realistic were associated with increased sexual aggression risk. Also, a stronger level of identification with pornographic actors was associated with an increased probability of sexual aggression, albeit at a marginal level of statistical significance. Conversely, a higher motivation to learn from pornography was unrelated to sexual aggression. 

It’s surprising that pornography exposure and aggression have found similar results for males and females.

导读

假设

研究结果

小结

信息可视化图（infographic）

P.S.

花卉插图来自Georgia O’keeffe

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