Personality, Attachment, and Pornography: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Since Internet pornography (IP) is widespread and can become problematic for some users, investigating the personality traits which correlate with its consumption is important. Though many studies have been conducted on the relationship between IP, personality traits, and attachment, no meta-analysis has been conducted to synthesize this literature. We aimed to address this gap through a meta-analysis comprising 51 studies with 45,808 individuals (female = 35.19%, mean age = 37.81). The strongest correlation was found for sexual compulsivity ( r = .372), followed by impulsivity ( r = .273), self-control ( r = −.210), narcissism ( r = .172), and conscientiousness ( r = −.147). Statistically significant positive correlations were found between impulsivity ( r = .245), (sexual) compulsivity ( r = .392), neuroticism ( r = .114), and anxious attachment ( r = .131) with problematic use of IP. The correlations between conscientiousness and both general IP ( r = −.145) and problematic use of IP ( r = −.149) were statistically significant and negative. Moderator analyses revealed that the internal consistency of pornography measurement moderated the relationship between IP and neuroticism.