Motives for pornography use and women's sexual wellbeing: Insights from a 42-country study

Gewirtz-Meydan A 1 , Feder H 1 , Nagy L 2 , Koós M 3 , Kraus SW 4 , Demetrovics Z 5 Show all authors , Potenza MN 6 , Ballester-Arnal R 7 , Batthyány D 8 , Bergeron S 9 , Billieux J 10 , Briken P 11 , Burkauskas J 12 , Cárdenas-López G 13 , Carvalho J 14 , Castro-Calvo J 15 , Chen L 16 , Ciocca G 17 , Corazza O 18 , Csako RI 19 , Fernandez DP 20 , Fernandez EF 21 , Fujiwara H 22 , Fuss J 23 , Gabrhelík R 24 , Gjoneska B 25 , Gola M 26 , Grubbs JB 27 , Hashim HT 28 , Islam MS 29 , Ismail M 28 , Jiménez-Martínez MC 30 , Jurin T 31 , Kalina O 32 , Klein V 33 , Költő A 34 , Lee CT 35 , Lee SK 36 , Lewczuk K 37 , Lin CY 38 , Lochner C 39 , López-Alvarado S 40 , Lukavská K 24 , Mayta-Tristán P 41 , Miller DJ 42 , Orosová O 32 , Orosz G 43 , Sungkyunkwan University’s research team 44 , Ponce FP 45 , Quintana GR 46 , Quintero Garzola GC 47 , Ramos-Diaz J 48 , Rigaud K 43 , Rousseau A 49 , De Tubino Scanavino M 50 , Schulmeyer MK 51 , Sharan P 52 , Shibata M 22 , Shoib S 53 , Sigre-Leirós V 10 , Sniewski L 54 , Spasovski O 55 , Steibliene V 12 , Stein DJ 56 , Strizek J 57 , Štulhofer A 58 , Ünsal BC 59 , Vaillancourt-Morel MP 60 , Van Hout MC 61 , Bőthe B 9

Affiliations 

  • 1 1School of Social Work, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel
  • 2 2Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
  • 3 4Institute of Forensic Psychiatry and Sex Research, Center for Translational Neuro-and Behavioral Science, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
  • 4 5Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, USA
  • 5 8Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
  • 6 9Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
  • 7 12Departmento de Psicología Básica, Clínica y Psicobiología, University Jaume I of Castellón, Spain
  • 8 13Institute for Behavioural Addictions, Sigmund Freud University Vienna, Austria
  • 9 14Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
  • 10 15Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • 11 17Institute for Sex Research, Sexual Medicine, and Forensic Psychiatry; University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf;Hamburg, Germany
  • 12 18Laboratory of Behavioral Medicine, Neuroscience Institute, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Palanga, Lithuania
  • 13 19Virtual Teaching and Cyberpsychology Laboratory, School of Psychology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico
  • 14 20William James Center for Research, Departamento de Educação e Psicologia, Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
  • 15 21Department of Personality, Assessment, and Psychological Treatments, University of Valencia, Spain
  • 16 22Department of Psychology, College of Humanity and Social Science, Fuzhou University, China
  • 17 23Section of Sexual Psychopathology, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
  • 18 24Department of Clinical, Pharmaceutical and Biological Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
  • 19 26Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
  • 20 27Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom
  • 21 28HELP University, Malaysia
  • 22 29Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
  • 23 31Institute of Forensic Psychiatry and Sex Research, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
  • 24 32Charles University, First Faculty of Medicine, Department of Addictology, Prague, Czech Republic
  • 25 34Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Republic of North Macedonia
  • 26 35Institute of Psychlogy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
  • 27 37Center on Alcohol, Substance use, And Addictions University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA
  • 28 39University of Baghdad, College of Medicine, Iraq
  • 29 41Department of Public Health and Informatics, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka-1342, Bangladesh
  • 30 43Universidad Pedagógca y Tecnológica de Colombia, Colombia
  • 31 44Department of Psychology, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia
  • 32 45Department of Educational Psychology and Psychology of Health, Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice, Slovakia
  • 33 46School of Psychology, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
  • 34 47Health Promotion Research Centre, University of Galway, Ireland
  • 35 48Department of Family Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
  • 36 49Department of Psychiatry, Hallym University Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital, South Korea
  • 37 7Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming, University of Gibraltar, Gibraltar, Gibraltar
  • 38 52Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
  • 39 54SAMRC Unit on Risk & Resilience in Mental Disorders, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
  • 40 55Faculty of Psychology, University of Cuenca, Ecuador
  • 41 57Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Científica del Sur, Lima, Perú
  • 42 58College of Healthcare Sciences, James Cook University, Australia
  • 43 59Artois University, France
  • 44 60Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea
  • 45 61Departamento de Psicología, Universidad Católica del Maule, Chile
  • 46 62Departamento de Psicología y Filosofía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Arica y Parinacota, Chile
  • 47 63Florida State University, Republic of Panama
  • 48 65Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Privada del Norte, Lima, Perú
  • 49 66Leuven School For Mass Communication, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
  • 50 67Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care London. London, ON, Canada. Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
  • 51 69Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
  • 52 70Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi -110029, India
  • 53 71Department of Psychology, Shardha University, India
  • 54 73Compassionate Inquiry, Canada
  • 55 74Faculty of Philosophy, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia
  • 56 75SAMRC Unit on Risk & Resilience in Mental Disorders, Dept of Psychiatry & Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town
  • 57 76Austrian Public Health Institute, Austria
  • 58 77Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia
  • 59 6Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
  • 60 79Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Intimate Relationship Problems and Sexual Abuse/Chercheure régulière, Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les problèmes conjugaux et les agressions sexuelles (CRIPCAS), Canada
  • 61 81Office of the Vice President for Research, Innovation and Impact, South East Technological University, Waterford, Ireland
J Behav Addict, 2025 Feb 12.
PMID: 39945771 DOI: 10.1556/2006.2024.00040

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Despite a growing body of research on pornography use among women, there is a lack of understanding of the problematic versus non-problematic nature. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between women's motivations for pornography use and sexual wellbeing using a cross-sectional, self-report survey design among participants from 42 countries.

METHODS: The total sample included 82,243 participants, of whom 46,874 (57.0%) identified as women and were analyzed. The participants' age averaged at M = 29.67 years, with a standard deviation of SD = 10.11. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing their motivations for pornography use, as well as measures of sexual functioning, sexual desire, and sexual satisfaction.

RESULTS: Study results suggest that across cultures, women's motivations for pornography use are associated with their sexual wellbeing. Specifically, when women reported using pornography for their own pleasure or sexual curiosity, it was associated with fewer sexual functioning problems and higher sexual desire. Conversely, when women reported using pornography due to a lack of sexual satisfaction in their relationships, it was associated with more sexual functioning problems.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the need to consider the multifaceted nature of pornography use among women, including the usage motives, to fully understand associations with sexual wellbeing. Additionally, the study emphasizes the importance of conducting further research utilizing longitudinal designs, to establish the directionality between pornography use motivations and sexual wellbeing among women.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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