Pornography consumption, premarital sex attitudes, and the moderating role of age: Replication in two U.S. panels

Abstract

Pornography use, sexual attitudes, and age differences in sexual outcomes have each been of longstanding interest to sexologists. Few sexological studies have considered how the association between pornography consumption and sexual attitudes may be moderated by age differences, however. Further, few pornography scholars have directed their research efforts toward replication studies despite calls for an increased emphasis on replication across the social and behavioral sciences. This rapid communication attempted to replicate one of the earliest longitudinal panel studies of the relationship between pornography consumption and sexual attitudes among U.S. adults and the first to examine whether the prospective association between pornography use and attitudes toward premarital sex varies by the age of the pornography consumer. While the present replication results were largely consistent with the original study, they also reinforced the position that complexity of analysis and nuance of interpretation are dual requirements for informative replication studies.