This blog is a summary of our published article: Vaillancourt-Morel, M.-P., Rosen, N. O., Willoughby, B. J., Leonhardt, N. D., & Bergeron, S. (2020). Pornography use and romantic relationships: A Dyadic daily diary study. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 37(10-11), 2802–2821. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407520940048
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The days of heading to the adult section in your local movie store may be dwindling, but the availability of pornography is growing, and it is no secret that there are plenty of people from around the globe who use it. Some studies have found evidence of negative outcomes for pornography use in romantic relationships, though there has been less emphasis on potential positive outcomes. For example, one study found that in young, heterosexual couples, pornography use was associated with increased infidelity and lower commitment levels. [1] On the other hand, a study found that couples who watched pornography together had higher relationship and sexual satisfaction than those who watched it on their own, and had similar outcomes as those who never or infrequently used pornography. [2]
But what about on a day-to-day basis? How does pornography use today affect relationships and sex-lives on the same day, or tomorrow?
What did we want to know?
We wanted to learn more about the role of pornography use in romantic relationships in same-sex and mixed-sex couples. More specifically, we examined how daily fluctuations in couples’ pornography use were associated with their sexual and relationship well-being on a day-to-day basis. We also sought to strengthen our understanding of how a person’s sex or gender may affect these outcomes.
What did we do?
We recruited 217 couples, 140 mix-sex couples and 77 same-sex couples, and asked them to independently complete a short survey each night before bed for a 35-day period. The daily surveys asked participants to report on their level of pornography use, relationship satisfaction, sexual desire for their partner, and sexual activity each day.
What did we find?
No matter the gender/sex of their partner, men reported using pornography significantly more than women, with 80.3% of men and 47.7% of women reporting using pornography at least once during the 35-day period; this finding was consistent with what is known as “the porn gap”, an occurrence that has been consistently observed in pornography research. [3] The table below shows how women’s and men’s daily pornography use was associated with their own or their partner’s sexual desire, as well as the couple’s likelihood of engaging in sexual activity that day. The direction of the arrows applies no matter the gender/sex of the individuals’ partner, unless otherwise specified.
As shown in the table to the right, on days when women used more pornography than usual, they and their partners reported more sexual desire and engaged in more partnered sexual activity. On days when men used more pornography than usual, they reported more sexual desire, but their partners reported less desire; men partnered with men engaged in more partnered activity while men partnered with women engaged in less partnered activity. All of these associations were found for pornography use and couples’ sexual outcomes only on the same day. Pornography use was not associated with these outcomes the following day, suggesting that porn use may not have a prolonged impact on couples’ sexual desire and activity. The study found no association between pornography use and relationship satisfaction.
Why does this matter?
These findings are a step in a positive direction towards understanding how coupled women’s and men’s daily pornography use relates to their sexual and relationship wellbeing. We learned that for both women and men – regardless of their partner’s gender/sex – more daily pornography use was associated with more sexual desire that day. However, associations between pornography use and a partner’s desire, or the couple’s engagement in sexual activity, varied based on gender/sex. This means that pornography use might have mixed effects on couples’ daily sexual wellbeing. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first study to look at how porn use related to couples’ day-to-day relationships, strengthening our understanding of short-term sexual and relationship implications of pornography use.
References
[1] Lambert, N. M., Negash, S., Stillman, T. F., Olmstead, S. B., & Fincham, F. D. (2012). A love that doesn’t last: Pornography consumption and weakened commitment to one’s romantic partner. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 31(4), 410–438. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2012.31.4.410
[2] Maddox, A. M., Rhoades, G. K., & Markman, H. J. (2009). Viewing sexually-explicit materials alone or together: Associations with Relationship Quality. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40(2), 441–448. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-009-9585-4
[3] Carroll, J. S., Busby, D. M., Willoughby, B. J., & Brown, C. C. (2016). The porn gap: Differences in men’s and women’s pornography patterns in couple relationships. Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy, 16(2), 146–163. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332691.2016.1238796
