Pornography Consumption and Extramarital Sex Attitudes Among Married U.S. Adults: Longitudinal Replication

Social scientific interest in pornography use and effects dates back to at least the mid-twentieth century. Despite this, recent meta-analyses reveal a need for additional longitudinal studies, in general; a need for attitudinal studies, specifically; and a need for studies of U.S. consumers, in particular. In response to these needs and recent calls for the fields of communication and psychological science to prioritize replication, the present study probed whether Wright et al. (Psychol Pop Media 3(2):97–109, 2014) novel longitudinal findings on pornography consumption and extramarital sex attitudes among married U.S. adults were replicable. As in Wright et al., a distal assessment of extramarital sex attitudes did not predict interindividual increases in the likelihood of pornography consumption. Contrary to Wright et al., a distal assessment of pornography consumption also failed to predict interindividual increases in positive attitudes toward extramarital sex. However, more proximal measures of extramarital sex attitudes and pornography consumption did predict over time interindividual change in pornography use and attitudinal positivity, respectively, even after adjusting for participants’ age, divorce history, education, race, sex, general unhappiness, martial unhappiness, liberal-conservative political orientation, and religiosity. These results are consistent with prior panel studies in the pornography literature in the macro, but also highlight a need for theoretical development (and testing) on the duration and time-course of selection and socialization effects in the context of pornography use and sexual attitudes.