There are three distinct types of people consuming pornography, a new study has revealed.
These are recreational, distressed, and compulsive users. The first group make up the largest segment at three-quarters of total viewers, and watch for fun and without adverse effects.
Delving Deeper Into Porn-Watching Habits
Researchers from Université Laval in Quebec, Canada, collected a sample of 830 participants and asked them about their porn-viewing habits along with their general sexual satisfaction, tendencies to avoid sex, and even potential sexual dysfunction.
In their cluster analysis they saw quite interesting findings. The recreational group or 75 percent of respondents had 24 minutes of port viewing every week on average, as well as low scores on the porn-use questionnaire. In this group, there were more women and people in a relationship than expected, Men’s Health reported.
Next was the distressed group, which composed 12.7 percent. They exhibited low compulsivity and intensity scores yet had high emotional distress post-viewing, which took 17 minutes a week on average. Overall, highly distressed less active users were less sexually satisfied, less sexually compulsive, and more sexually dysfunctional.
The third group, the compulsive ones, comprised 11.8 percent and averaged 110 minutes every week. They reported moderate distress levels but high compulsivity and intensity status, and they were predominantly men.
The results: women fall more into the recreational side, while men tend to be caught up in a compulsive cycle. Also interestingly, bisexual participants demonstrated the highest rate of compulsive porn usage, while heterosexuals leaned toward recreational use.
“Compared with women who tend to use pornography with their partner as part of their sexual activities, men are more attracted to a wider range of materials and prefer to use pornography for arousal and masturbation,” noted the study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
The 40 questions in the test solicited true or false as answers, and included statements such as “After viewing pornography online, I clear my browser’s history,” as well as “When I am unable to access pornography online I feel relieved that I did not sin.”
The result patterns confirmed the existence of “not particularly active, yet highly distressed consumers,” the authors added.
Pornhub Usage Numbers
Just last January, Pornhub reported streaming 4.6 billion hours’ worth of videos last year. It recently released statistics on online porn usage on its site, revealing that women are far more likely than men to look at online porn using their smartphones. The data shows that 71 percent of female users are 16 percent more likely to use smartphone than men.
The research, revealed in honor of International Women’s Day last Wednesday, further showed that 80 percent of women visiting the website chose to use a smartphone or tablet, compared to 69 percent of men who did.
While the numbers may not seem so groundbreaking, the porn portal said that the level of traffic was enough to lead to a major drop in Pornhub visits while the Women’s March was held in January.
When it comes to age, about 78 percent of millenials, or those ages 18 to 34, consumed porn videos on their smartphones.
This week, a new study concluded a drop in lovemaking among Americans across race, gender, region, educational attainment, and work status.
