Covid-19 Lockdown and Pornographic Content-Viewing among Unmarried Youths in Yenagoa City, Bayelsa State: A Descriptive Analysis

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic lockdown has occasioned serious social vices among unmarried youths worldwide. However, there is little attention to its implications on pornographic content viewing among unmarried youths, especially in Yenagoa City, Bayelsa State. This study, therefore, examined the effects of covid-19 on pornographic viewing among unmarried youths in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. The Threat Appraisal and Coping Theory formed the theoretical framework for the study. A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was employed. A total sample of 320 respondents was drawn using a structured questionnaire through a multi-stage sampling technique. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The respondents’ age was 29.1±10.98 years. Pornographic content viewing was high with nude pictures (59.1%) and nude movies (62.8%) being the most used porn materials during the lockdown. Furthermore, while nearly half of the respondents (46.2%) read/viewed porn materials at least twice each week, the internet was the most common source of porn (43%). The top reasons advanced for the use of porn materials included; no knowledge of sex/ignorance (21.4%), no sexual partner (21.9%), and exploring more sex styles (17.1%). The effects of porn content viewing as findings from the study revealed were sexual addiction (24.7%), aggression and abuse (16.8%), and distorted perception of reality (15.3%). The study recommended there is an urgent need to include sexuality education curriculum across all levels of education in order to adequately enlighten young people of the dangers associated with risky sexual behaviour resulting from porn content viewing.