Pornography use and perceptions, erroneous sexual beliefs, and individual differences in a Mexican sample

Abstract The present study had three primary objectives: to further probe the question of whether individual differences are more appropriately theorized as confounds or predictors in observational pornography effects research; to continue the assessment of whether published pornography research findings are replicable; and to provide additional data on the relationship between pornography use and perceptions and erroneous sexual beliefs. Data were from the Mexico Survey on Sexual Behaviors and Pornography and included 862 participants aged between 18 and 50. Participants who used pornography more frequently and perceived pornography as an important source of sexual information were more likely to hold erroneous sexual beliefs. Inconsistent with the libertarian theory of pornography, these associations remained after adjusting for individual differences. Consistent with a combinatory reinforcing spirals, differential susceptibility to media effects, and sexual script acquisition, activation, application model perspective, path analytic results supported the position that individual differences affect pornography use frequency and perceptions of pornography’s utility, which in turn affect the likelihood of holding erroneous sexual beliefs. These results are consistent with previous findings in the observational pornography effects literature.