Abstract
Despite the lack of evidence for negative health effects of masturbation, abstinence from masturbation is frequently recommended as a strategy to improve one’s sexual self-regulation. We adopted a framework of perceived problems with pornography to collect first hints about whether abstinence from masturbation stems from a psychological and behavioral “addiction” or conflicting attitudes. In an online questionnaire survey recruited via a non-thematic Reddit thread (n = 1063), most participants reported that they had tried to be abstinent from masturbation. As visible from zero-order correlations and multiple linear regression, motivation for abstinence was mostly associated with attitudinal correlates, specifically the perception of masturbation as unhealthy. While there were associations with hypersexuality, no significant correlation with behavioral markers such as maximum number of orgasms was found. Higher abstinence motivation was related to a higher perceived impact of masturbation, conservatism, and religiosity and to lower trust in science. We argue that research on abstinence from masturbation can enrich the understanding of whether and how average frequencies of healthy behavior are pathologized.
Highlights
Historical PerspectiveAlongside other strategies to abstain from Internet pornography, abstinence from masturbation is advocated within a quickly growing online community
Among the potential attitudinal correlates, stronger beliefs regarding the impact of masturbation, r(1058) = 0.21, p < .001, on social aspects, r(1060) = .20, p < .001, lower trust in science, r(1057) = − .15, p < .001, more conservative attitudes, r(1057) = .21, p < .001, stronger religiosity, r(1048) = .18, p < .001, and perceiving masturbation as unhealthy, r(932) = .41, p < .001, were all associated with greater motivation for masturbation abstinence
For the pathway of physiological and psychological dysregulation, which can be conceptualized as a “masturbation addiction,” only the subscales of the HBI were associated with abstinence motivation
Summary
Alongside other strategies to abstain from Internet pornography, abstinence from masturbation is advocated within a quickly growing online community. Gola, Lewczuk, and Skorko (2016) studied the predictors of help-seeking behavior relevant to problematic pornography use They reported that the quality of symptoms explains a significantly higher proportion of variance than the quantity of consumption of Internet pornography, suggesting that the frequency of use should be less diagnostically weighted to better meet the complexity of patients’ presenting concerns. Distress regarding pornography use is generated by dysregulated consumption behavior in the first pathway and by conflict with own morals or attitudes in the second We will adopt these pathways for abstinence motivation to guide a literature review and first exploratory hypotheses. To assess the aforementioned and other potential correlates, we will review contributions on masturbation frequency, hypersexuality, and selected attitudes
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