Problematic Pornography Use and Sexual Shame: A Moderated Mediation Model of Perceived Social Realism and Gender

Abstract

Sexual shame is a significant psychosexual health consequence of pornography use, mainly when individuals engage in upward social comparisons. Research has shown that pornography viewing patterns can vary significantly across genders, highlighting gender as a potential moderator.  Moreover, the cognitive mechanisms underlying the direct association between pornography use and sexual shame remain unexplored. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to examine the indirect relationship between problematic pornography use and sexual shame through perceived social realism with gender as a moderator. 182 self-identified pornography users (51.1% females), with a mean age of 21.03 years (SD= 1.38), participated in the present study. The participants recruited through purposive sampling completed an online survey consisting of the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale, the Sexual Shame and Pride Scale, and the Perceived Social Realism Scale. The results indicated no significant gender differences in the pathways among problematic pornography use, perceived social realism, and sexual shame. The direct effect of problematic pornography use on sexual shame was significant for males only. Conversely, the positive association between problematic pornography use and sexual shame, mediated by perceived social realism, was substantial for females but not for males. The results confirmed that the effects of problematic pornography use are still gender-specific. Notably, for females, sexual shame associated with problematic pornography use can be explained by their perceptions of social realism in pornography. In contrast, this rationale does not similarly account for the associations of sexual shame with problematic pornography use in males. The present study highlights the potential consequences of problematic pornography use on psychosexual health, particularly sexual shame, by examining the roles of cognitive appraisal and gender. Additionally, the findings contribute to the existing literature on pornography within the Malaysian context