Over 100 quick stats and findings from an ever-growing body of research that details the effects of porn for individuals, relationships, and society.
One study that kept track of couples over time found that consuming porn was the second strongest predictor that a relationship would suffer.
Findings of a qualitative study indicated that teens often reported trying to copy porn in their own sexual encounters, and that the pressure to imitate porn was often an aspect of unhealthy relationships.
Only 4% of women who were casually dating men reported that their partner regularly consumed porn, when in reality, 50% of the men who were casually dating reported that they regularly consumed porn.
Research indicates that young people often feel pressured to imitate porn when having sex.
Women whose partners consume porn tend to experience more psychological distress, feel more objectified, have poorer body image, and are even more likely to develop eating disorder symptoms.
One study shows that approximately 45% of teens who consumed porn did so in part to learn about sex.
Porn consumption is linked to increased loneliness.
Research shows that those with an interest in extreme or degrading porn are more likely to reenact porn scenes during sex with a partner.
Over half of 11 to 16-year-old boys (53%) and over a third of 11 to 16-year-old girls (39%) reported believing that pornography was a realistic depiction of sex, according to a 2016 report.
Porn consumers tend to be more accepting of cheating.
According to a 2021 study, only 5.94% of porn-consuming respondents said that they watched porn because of a "lack of sexual satisfaction." In other words, the vast majority of porn consumers are watching porn for reasons other than their partner not being "enough."
Porn consumers tend to be less committed to their partners.
Research consistently shows that porn consumers are twice as likely to later experience a divorce or breakup —even after controlling for marital happiness, sexual satisfaction, and other relevant factors.
Some frequent porn consumers can become so accustomed to the exaggerated forms of sex they see in porn, that they may have a difficult time becoming aroused in real-life sexual encounters unless porn is also present.
In a study of casually dating adults, zero women reported that their partner consumed pornography daily or every other day. But in reality, 43% of casually dating men in the study reported this level of heavy porn consumption.
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