Unlocking the Detrimental Effects of Pornography on Your Sex Life: BYU Study

People have said that watching pornographic content often leads to less stable relationships.

A recent study in the Journal of Sex Research suggests that people who watch porn are less likely to be sexually satisfied in relationships.

Researchers at the Brigham Young University in Utah investigated 3,500 people in committed relationships.

The researchers asked them about their porn habits and the satisfaction they got from their partners.

Brian J. Willoughby, the study’s lead author, said, “Couples should know that watching pornography poses a risk to their relationships.”

Willoughby spoke to the local news channel KSL during an interview at the Mormon University School of Family Life.

“Negative outcomes don’t just come from aggressive pornography,” he continued.

Despite complex variables between pornography use, gender, beliefs about addiction & religion, new BYU research found that pornography use by men or women at any level had a pronounced negative impact on romantic relationship stability.https://t.co/1YaULhI8oy

— BYU (@BYU) March 10, 2023

Details of the Study

The 3,500 people comprised 72% heterosexuals, 17% homosexuals, and 11% bisexuals.

25% of the participants were people on their first marriages, 23% were cohabiting, 12% remarried, and 2% were in open relationships.

The researchers split porn into two groups: “mainstream,” for consensual sex between individuals and couples, and “aggressive,” which represented violent and non-consensual acts.”

“We got strong details regarding pornography, its participants’ relationships, and the relationship dynamics,” said Willoughby.

“One interesting thing is, I presumed we would find it was the aggressive, non-consensual pornography that was disrupting relationships.”

Researchers also discovered no difference in producing negative results, even with different porn types.

“An increase in pornography led to less satisfaction and less stability in the relationship.” Religious men were the most affected by porn, according to Willoughby.

“Mainstream pornography is targeted at heterosexual men, its core audience,” Willoughby said. They make up most pornographic content online since there is a market for it.

“Perhaps they become more affected by comparing themselves to other men, setting unrealistic expectations for their bodies, and what they believe their partner should be doing.”

“Couples should note that viewing pornography is a risk factor in their relationship,” the professor warned.

Considering the nationwide proliferation of an unending array of freaky online porn, this is no trivial matter.

A Look at PornHub’s Data

Recently, PornHub released a study that showed the most popular porn searches of their members across the 50 states in the US. The results showed “lesbian” porn surpassed “hentai” porn.

Pornhub’s data showed that the US was the apex consumer of porn worldwide, with the UK in a close second.

Though addiction and religiosity have been critical factors in understanding the link between personal distress and pornography use, researchers have yet to study them in relational literature.

The study used the US to model the association between two key relationship quality indicators and pornography use.

The two key relationship quality indicators are relationship stability and satisfaction.

Suggestions from the results indicate that both aggressive and general pornography use has a connection to less relationship stability and relationship satisfaction.

Being male and having higher religiosity showed negative associations between lower relationship quality and pornography use.

It is essential to consider both perceived addiction and religiosity as important factors when studying associations between relational and individual outcomes with pornography use.