Personality, self-esteem, body evaluation, relationship satisfaction and consumption of pornography by women aged 18–30
Abstract
Introduction: The consumption of pornography, which is usually considered a male activity, is now also
becoming more and more popular among women. This phenomenon raises the question about the psychological
characteristics of women using pornographic content. In the study, personality traits, level of
self-esteem, assessment of body and satisfaction with the relationship were analyzed in relation to the
opinion on pornography and the frequency of using it by women.
Material and methods: In the study took part 114 women aged 18–30 staying in heterosexual relationships.
The study was conducted via the Lime Survey software. The following tools were used: Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), International Personality Item Pool-Big Five Markers-50, Self-Esteem Scale (SES), Body Esteem
Scale (BES) and own survey.
Results: 46% of respondents declared that they use online pornography. Statistically significant differences between
women using and not using online pornography were observed in terms of emotional stability and opinions on
pornography. Positive correlations between explored variables and beliefs about pornography were also proven.
Conclusions: The issue of the consumption of online pornography by women is definitely worth further
exploration. On the one hand, there are more and more Polish users of pornographic portals and it is worth
knowing not only the risk associated with it, but also the potential constructive impact on the users. On the
other hand, a majority of the results obtained in the study indicate a positive perception of pornography
by woman, and its correlation with constructive psychological traits. It is an additional voice in the overall
discussion on the impact of pornography on its users.
Keywords: pornographyself-esteem and body assessmentrelationship satisfactionpersonality
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