According to recent studies, the growing consumption of Internet pornography mainly in male population becomes an increasing problem, which is closely linked to compulsive sexual behavior. Some findings also suggest that Internet pornography consumption might represent a defense mechanism against excessive stress, which enables to cope with stressful events, helps in mood regulation, and decreases depression and anxiety. Users of online pornography involved in these activities also reported that their self-exposition to pornographic material may create guilty feelings and internal conflict in themselves with respect to their own "involuntary" sexual behavior, which suggest that psychosocial stress and possibly traumatic experiences may play a significant role in Internet pornography addiction. Taken together, these findings show that stressful experiences, anxiety, and depression are strongly related to pornography consumption. In addition, conflicting emotional experiences as well as identity problems significantly increase vulnerability to addictive sexual behavior and pornography consumption.

Center for Neuropsychiatric Research of Traumatic Stress Department of Psychiatry and UHSL 1st Faculty of Medicine and Department of Psychiatry Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Aaron M. (2012) The pathways of problematic sexual behavior: A literature review of factors affecting adult sexual behavior in survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Sex Addict Compulsivity. 19:199–218.

Andreassen CS, Pallesen S, Griffiths MD, Torsheim T, Sinha R. (2018) The development and validation of the Bergen-Yale Sex Addiction Scale with a large national sample. Front Psychol. 9:144. PubMed PMC

Angst J. (1998) Sexual problems in healthy and depressed persons. Int Clin Psychopharmacol. 13(Suppl 6):S1–S4. PubMed

Banca P, Morris LS, Mitchell S, Harrison NA, Potenza MN, Voon V. (2016) Novelty, conditioning and attentional bias to sexual rewards. J Psychiatr Res. 72:91–101. PubMed PMC

Bancroft J, Janssen E, Strong D, Carnes L, Vukadinovic Z, Long JS. (2003) The relation between mood and sexuality in heterosexual men. Arch Sex Behav. 32:217–230. PubMed

Bancroft J, Vukadinovic Z. (2004) Sexual addiction, sexual compulsivity, sexual impulsivity, or what? Toward a theoretical model. J Sex Res. 41:225–234. PubMed

Barrett D. (2010) Supernormal stimuli: How primal urges overran their evolutionary purpose. New York: WW Norton & Company.

Baumeister RF. (2000) Gender differences in erotic plasticity: The female sex drive as socially flexible and responsive. Psychol Bull. 126:347–374. PubMed

Bayer HM, Glimcher PW. (2005) Midbrain dopamine neurons encode a quantitative reward prediction error signal. Neuron. 47:129–141. PubMed PMC

Block JJ. (2008) Issues for DSM-V: Internet addiction. Am J Psychiatry. 165:306–307. PubMed

Bőthe B, Tóth-Király I, Bella N, Potenza MN, Demetrovics Z, Orosz G. (2021) Why do people watch pornography? The motivational basis of pornography use. Psychol Addict Behav. 35:172–186. PubMed

Bőthe B, Tóth-Király I, Potenza MN, Orosz G, Demetrovics Z. (2020) High-frequency pornography use may not always be problematic. J Sex Med. 17:793–811. PubMed

Bradley DF, Grubbs JB, Uzdavines A, Exline JJ, Pargament KI. (2016) Perceived addiction to Internet pornography among religious believers and nonbelievers. Sex Addict Compuls. 23(2–3):225–243.

Braun-Courville DK, Rojas M. (2009) Exposure to sexually explicit web sites and adolescent sexual attitudes and behaviors. J Adolesc Health. 45:156–162. PubMed

Brown JD, L'Engle KL. (2009) X-rated: Sexual attitudes and behaviors associated with U.S. early adolescents' exposure to sexually explicit media. Commun Res. 36:129–151.

Burtăverde V, Jonason PK, Giosan C, Ene C. (2021) Why do people watch porn? An evolutionary perspective on the reasons for pornography consumption. Evol Psychol. 19:14747049211028798. PubMed PMC

Campbell L, Kohut T. (2017) The use and effects of pornography in romantic relationships. Curr Opin Psychol. 13:6–10. PubMed

Chen A-S, Leung M, Chen C-H, Yang SC. (2013) Exposure to Internet pornography among Taiwanese adolescents. J Soc Behav Pers. 41:157–164.

Collins RL, Elliott MN, Berry SH, Kanouse DE, Kunkel D, Hunter SB, Miu A. (2004) Watching sex on television predicts adolescent initiation of sexual behavior. Pediatrics. 114:e280–e289. PubMed

Cooper A, Delmonico DL, Burg R. (2000) Cybersex users, abusers, and compulsives: New findings and implications. Sex Addict Compulsivity. 7(1–2):5–29.

Cooper A, Delmonico DL, Griffin-Shelley E, Mathy RM. (2004) Online sexual activity: An examination of pontentially problematic behaviors. J Sex Addict Compulsivity. 11:129–143.

Cooper A, Putnam DE, Planchon LA, Boies SC. (1999) Online sexual compulsivity: Getting tangled in the net. Sex Addict Compulsivity. 6:79–104.

Crouch NS, Deans R, Michala L, Liao LM, Creighton SM. (2011) Clinical characteristics of well women seeking labial reduction surgery: A prospective study. BJOG. 118:1507–1510. PubMed

Dackis C, O'Brien C. (2005) Neurobiology of addiction: Treatment and public policy ramifications. Nat Neurosci. 8:1431–1436. PubMed

Daneback K, Månsson S-A, Ross MW, Markham CM. (2012) The Internet as a source of information about sexuality. Sex Educ. 12:583–598.

Daneback K, Ross MW, Månsson SA. (2006) Characteristics and behaviors of sexual compulsives who use the Internet for sexual purposes. Sex Addict Compuls. 13:53–67.

Davis RA. (2001) A cognitive-behavioral model of pathological Internet use. Comput Hum Behav. 17:187–195.

Doidge N. (2007) The brain that changes itself: stories of personal triumph from the frontiers of brain science. New York: Viking.

Duffy A, Dawson DL, das Nair R. (2016) Pornography addiction in adults: A systematic review of definitions and reported impact. J Sex Med. 13:760–777. PubMed

Efrati Y, Gola M. (2018) Treating compulsive sexual behavior. Curr Sex Health Rep. 10:57–64.

Fiorino DF, Coury A, Phillips AG. (1997) Dynamic changes in nucleus accumbens dopamine efflux during the Coolidge effect in male rats. J Neurosci. 17:4849–4855. PubMed PMC

Frangos CC, Frangos CC, Kiohos AP. (2010) Internet addiction among Greek University students: Demographic associations with the phenomenon, using the Greek version of Young's Internet addiction test. Int J Econ Sci Appl Res. 3:49–74.

Giugliano JR. (2009) Sexual addiction: Diagnostic problems. Int J Ment Health Addict. 7:283–294.

Goodman A. (1997) Sexual addiction. In Lowinson JH, Ruiz P, Millman RB, Langrod JG. (Eds), Substance abuse: A comprehensive textbook (pp 340–354). Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins.

Goodman A. (2001) What's is a name? Terminology for designating a syndrome of driven sexual behavior. Sex Addict Compuls. 8:191–213.

Goodman A. (2008) Neurobiology of addiction. An integrative review. Biochem Pharmacol. 75:266–322. PubMed

Goodwin BC, Browne M, Rockloff M. (2015) Measuring preference for supernormal over natural rewards: A two-dimensional anticipatory pleasure scale. Evol Psychol. 13:147470491561391. PubMed PMC

Griffiths MD. (2012) Internet sex addiction: A review of empirical research. Addict Res Theory. 20:111–124.

Grubbs JB, Exline JJ, Pargament KI, Hook JN, Carlisle RD. (2015) Transgression as addiction: Religiosity and moral disapproval as predictors of perceived addiction to pornography. Arch Sex Behav. 44:125–136. PubMed

Grubbs JB, Kraus SW, Perry SL. (2019a) Self-reported addiction to pornography in a nationally representative sample: The roles of use habits, religiousness, and moral incongruence. J Behav Addict. 8:88–93. PubMed PMC

Grubbs JB, Sessoms J, Wheeler DM, Volk F. (2010) The cyber-pornography use inventory: The development of a new assessment instrument. Sex Addict Compuls. 17:106–126.

Grubbs JB, Wright PJ, Braden AL, Wilt JA, Kraus SW. (2019b) Internet pornography use and sexual motivation: A systematic review and integration. Ann Int Commun Assoc. 43:117–155.

Handyside S, Ringrose J. (2017) Snapchat memory and youth digital sexual cultures: Mediated temporality, duration and affect. J Gend Stud. 26:347–360.

Hart AS, Rutledge RB, Glimcher PW, Phillips PEM. (2014) Phasic dopamine release in the rat nucleus accumbens symmetrically encodes a reward prediction error term. J Neurosci. 34:698–704. PubMed PMC

Hilton DL, Watts C. (2011) Pornography addiction: A neuroscience perspective. Surg Neurol Int. 2:19. PubMed PMC

Hilton DL., Jr. (2013) Pornography addiction—A supranormal stimulus considered in the context of neuroplasticity. Socioaffect Neurosci Psychol. 3:20767. PubMed PMC

Hooshmand S, Willoughby T, Good M. (2012) Does the direction of effects in the association between depressive symptoms and health-risk behaviors differ by behavior? A longitudinal study across the high school years. J Adolesc Health. 50:140–147. PubMed

Kafka MP. (1993) Update on paraphilias and paraphilia-related disorders. Currents Affect Illn. 12:5–13.

Kafka MP. (2010) Hypersexual disorder: A proposed diagnosis for DSM-V. Arch Sex Behav. 39:377–400. PubMed

Kasper TE, Short MB, Milam AC. (2015) Narcissism and Internet pornography use. J Sex Marital Ther. 41:481–486. PubMed

Kim SW, Schenck CH, Grant JE, Yoon G, Dosa PI, Odlaug BL, Schreiber LRN, Hurwitz TD, Pfaus JG. (2013) Neurobiology of sexual desire. NeuroQuantology. 11:332–359.

Kraus SW, Krueger RB, Briken P, First MB, Stein DJ, Kaplan MS, Voon V, Abdo CHN, Grant JE, Atalla E, Reed GM. (2018) Compulsive sexual behaviour disorder in the ICD-11. World Psychiatry. 17:109–110. PubMed PMC

Kühn S, Gallinat J. (2014) Brain structure and functional connectivity associated with pornography consumption: The brain on porn. JAMA Psychiatry. 71:827–834. PubMed

Laier C, Brand M. (2017) Mood changes after watching pornography on the Internet are linked to tendencies towards Internet-pornography-viewing disorder. Addict Behav Rep. 5:9–13. PubMed PMC

Laier C, Pawlikowski M, Pekal J, Schulte FP, Brand M. (2013) Cybersex addiction: Experienced sexual arousal when watching pornography and not real-life sexual contacts makes the difference. J Behav Addict. 2:100–107. PubMed

Lanier J. (2019) Ilusi media sosial sepuluh argumen tentang paradoks medsos. Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Cantrik Pustaka.

Leeman RF, Potenza MN. (2013) A targeted review of the neurobiology and genetics of behavioural addictions: An emerging area of research. Can J Psychiatry. 58:260–273. PubMed PMC

Leiblum SR. (1997) Sex and the net: Clinical implications. J Sex Educ Ther. 22:21–28.

Levin ME, Lillis J, Hayes SC. (2012) When is online pornography viewing problematic among college males? Examining the moderating role of experiential avoidance. J Sex Addict Compulsivity. 19:168–180.

Leyton M, Vezina P. (2014) Dopamine ups and downs in vulnerability to addictions: A neurodevelopmental model. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 35:268–276. PubMed PMC

Marra G, Drury A, Tran L, Veale D, Muir GH. (2020) Systematic review of surgical and nonsurgical interventions in normal men complaining of small penis size. Sex Med Rev. 8:158–180. PubMed

Marshall WL, Marshall LE. (2000) The origins of sexual offending. Trauma Violence Abuse. 1:250–263.

Mattebo M, Tydén T, Häggström-Nordin E, Nilsson KW, Larsson M. (2013) Pornography consumption, sexual experiences, lifestyles, and self-rated health among male adolescents in Sweden. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 34:460–468. PubMed

Mattebo M, Tydén T, Häggström-Nordin E, Nilsson KW, Larsson M. (2014) Pornography and sexual experiences among high school students in Sweden. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 35:179–188. PubMed

Mauer-Vakil D, Bahji A. (2020) The addictive nature of compulsive sexual behaviours and problematic online pornography consumption: A review. Can J Addict. 11:42–51.

McClure SM, Berns GS, Montague PR. (2003) Temporal prediction errors in a passive learning task activate human striatum. Neuron. 38:339–346. PubMed

Mechelmans DJ, Irvine M, Banca P, Porter L, Mitchell S, Mole TB, Lapa TR, Harrison NA, Potenza MN, Voon V. (2014) Enhanced attentional bias towards sexually explicit cues in individuals with and without compulsive sexual behaviours. PloS One. 9:e105476. PubMed PMC

Melis MR, Argiolas A. (2011) Central control of penile erection: A re-visitation of the role of oxytocin and its interaction with dopamine and glutamic acid in male rats. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 35:939–955. PubMed

Montaldi DF. (2002) Understanding hypersexuality with an Axis II model. J Psychol Hum Sex. 14:1–23.

Nestler EJ. (2008) Review. Transcriptional mechanisms of addiction: Role of DeltaFosB. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 363:3245–3255. PubMed PMC

Nestler EJ. (2013) ΔFosB: A molecular switch for reward. J Drug Alcohol Res. 2:1–11.

Nie F. (2021) Adolescent porn viewing and religious context: Is the eye still the light of the body? Deviant Behav. 42:1382–1395.

Ogas O, Gaddam S. (2011) A billion wicked thoughts: What the Internet tells us about sexual relationships. London, United Kingdom: Penguin.

Ostlund SB, LeBlanc KH, Kosheleff AR, Wassum KM, Maidment NT. (2014) Phasic mesolimbic dopamine signaling encodes the facilitation of incentive motivation produced by repeated cocaine exposure. Neuropsychopharmacology. 39:2441–2449. PubMed PMC

O'Sullivan LF, Brotto LA, Byers ES, Majerovich JA, Wuest JA. (2014) Prevalence and characteristics of sexual functioning among sexually experienced middle to late adolescents. J Sex Med. 11:630–641. PubMed

Papadopoulos L. (2010) Sexualisation of young people review. Available at: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/10738/1/sexualisation-young-people.pdf.

Park BY, Wilson G, Berger J, Christman M, Reina B, Bishop F, Klam WP, Doan AP. (2016) Is Internet pornography causing sexual dysfunctions? A review with clinical reports. Behav Sci (Basel). 6:17. PubMed PMC

Patterson R, Price J. (2012) Pornography, religion, and the happiness gap: Does pornography impact the actively religious differently? J Sci Study Relig. 51:79–89. PubMed

Paul B. (2009) Predicting Internet pornography use and arousal: The role of individual difference variables. J Sex Res. 46:344–357. PubMed

Pepping CA, Cronin TJ, Lyons A, Caldwell JG. (2018) The effects of mindfulness on sexual outcomes: The role of emotion regulation. Arch Sex Behav. 47:1601–1612. PubMed

Perry SL. (2018) Pornography use and depressive symptoms: Examining the role of moral incongruence. Soc Ment Health. 8:195–213.

Peter J, Valkenburg PM. (2011) The influence of sexually explicit Internet material on sexual risk behavior: A comparison of adolescents and adults. J Health Commun. 16:750–765. PubMed

Pitchers KK, Vialou V, Nestler EJ, Laviolette SR, Lehman MN, Coolen LM. (2013) Natural and drug rewards act on common neural plasticity mechanisms with ΔFosB as a key mediator. J Neurosci. 33:3434–3442. PubMed PMC

Pizzol D, Bertoldo A, Foresta C. (2016) Adolescents and Web porn: A new era of sexuality. Int J Adolesc Med Health. 28:169–173. PubMed

Prause N, Pfaus J. (2015) Viewing sexual stimuli associated with greater sexual responsiveness, not erectile dysfunction. Sex Med. 3:90–98. PubMed PMC

Price J, Patterson R, Regnerus M, Walley J. (2016) How much more XXX is Generation X consuming? Evidence of changing attitudes and behaviors related to pornography since 1973. J Sex Res. 53:12–20. PubMed

Raymond NC, Coleman E, Miner MH. (2003) Psychiatric comorbidity and compulsive/impulsive traits in compulsive sexual behavior. Compr Psychiatry. 44:370–380. PubMed

Rosenberg KP, Feder LC. (2014) An introduction to behavioral addictions. In Rosenberg KP, Feder LC. (Eds), Behavioral addictions: Criteria, evidence and treatment (pp 1–18). Cambridge, MA: Academic Press.

Ross MW, Månsson S-A, Daneback K. (2012) Prevalence, severity, and correlates of problematic sexual Internet use in Swedish men and women. Arch Sex Behav. 41:459–466. PubMed

Roxo MR, Franceschini PR, Zubaran C, Kleber FD, Sander JW. (2011) The limbic system conception and its historical evolution. Scientific World Journal. 11:2427–2440. PubMed PMC

Schachner DA, Shaver PR. (2004) Attachment dimensions and sexual motives. Pers Relationships. 11:179–195.

Schultz W. (1998) Predictive reward signal of dopamine neurons. J Neurophysiol. 80:1–27. PubMed

Shapiro B. (2005) Porn generation: How social liberalism is corrupting our future. Washington, DC: Regnery.

Shaw M, Black DW. (2008) Internet addiction: Definition, assessment, epidemiology and clinical management. CNS Drugs. 22:353–365. PubMed

Skegg K, Nada-Raja S, Dickson N, Paul C. (2010) Perceived “out of control” sexual behavior in a cohort of Young adults from the Dunedin multidisciplinary health and development study. Arch Sex Behav. 39:968–978. PubMed

Sniewski L, Farvid P. (2020) Hidden in shame: Heterosexual men's experiences of self-perceived problematic pornography use. Psychol Men Masculinities. 21:201–212.

Sniewski L, Farvid P, Carter P. (2018) The assessment and treatment of adult heterosexual men with self-perceived problematic pornography use: A review. Addict Behav. 77:217–224. PubMed

Štulhofer A, Jurin T, Briken P. (2016) Is high sexual desire a facet of male Hypersexuality? Results from an online study. J Sex Marital Ther. 42:665–680. PubMed

Sunsay C, Rebec GV. (2014) Extinction and reinstatement of phasic dopamine signals in the nucleus accumbens core during Pavlovian conditioning. Behav Neurosci. 128:579–587. PubMed PMC

Thatcher A, Wretschko G, Fridjhon P. (2008) Online flow experiences, problematic Internet use and Internet procrastination. Comput Hum Behav. 24:2236–2254.

Vaillancourt-Morel MP, Bergeron S. (2019) Self-perceived problematic pornography use: Beyond individual differences and religiosity. Arch Sex Behav. 48:437–441. PubMed

Vanderschuren LJ, Pierce RC. (2010) Sensitization processes in drug addiction. Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 3:179–195. PubMed

Volkow ND, Wang GJ, Telang F, Fowler JS, Logan J, Childress AR, Jayne M, Ma Y, Wong C. (2008) Dopamine increases in striatum do not elicit craving in cocaine abusers unless they are coupled with cocaine cues. Neuroimage. 39:1266–1273. PubMed PMC

Voon V, Mole TB, Banca P, Porter L, Morris L, Mitchell S, Lapa TR, Karr J, Harrison NA, Potenza MN, Irvine M. (2014) Neural correlates of sexual cue reactivity in individuals with and without compulsive sexual behaviours. PloS One. 9:e102419. PubMed PMC

Weinstein A, Lejoyeux M. (2010) Internet addiction or excessive Internet use. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 36:277–283. PubMed

Weiser EB. (2000) Gender differences in Internet use patterns and Internet application preferences: A two-sample comparison. Cyber Psychol Behav. 3:167–178.

Widman L, McNulty JK. (2010) Sexual narcissism and the perpetration of sexual aggression. Arch Sex Behav. 39:926–939. PubMed PMC

Willoughby BJ, Busby DM, Young-Petersen B. (2019) Understanding associations between personal definitions of pornography, using pornography, and depression. Sex Res Soc Policy. 16:342–356.

Wilson GD. (1997) Gender differences in sexual fantasy: An evolutionary analysis. Personal Individ Differ. 22:27–31.

Wright PJ. (2013) U.S. Males and pornography, 1973–2010: Consumption, predictors, correlates. J Sex Res. 50:60–71. PubMed

Young KS. (1998) Internet addiction: The emergence of a new clinical disorder. Cyber Psychol Behav. 1:241–244.

Young KS, Griffin-Shelley E, Cooper A, O'Mara J, Buchanan J. (2000) Online infidelity: A new dimension in couple relationships with implications for evaluation and treatment. Sex Addict Compuls. 7(1–2):59–74.

Yulius H. (2020) Tidak semua seks itu jorok. Jakarta, Indonesia: PT. Gramedia.

Sexual development in ADHD and internet pornography consumption