Strength of Pornography Craving Experience (PCE-S): Psychometric properties of a new measure based on the elaborated intrusion theory of desire

Abstract

IntroductionPornography use is a common sexual activity with potentially addictive use in some people. Even though craving is being recognized as an important characteristic of addictive behaviors, there is a lack of a specific validated instrument measuring the pornography craving experience.The present study aimed at adapting and validating an instrument measuring the users’ strength of pornography craving experience (PCE-S) based on the Elaborated Intrusion theory of desire. MethodsItems from the “strength” form of the Craving Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) were adapted to pornography use and used to create the PCE-S. The PCE-S was then administered online to 1584 English-speaking cyberporn users aged 18–75 years old (M = 33.18; SD = 10.84]; 63.1 % male, 35.2 % female, and 1.7 % non-binary). All participants completed an assessment of compulsive cyberporn use (CIUS adapted for cyberporn). Confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA) was used to examine the construct structure validity; Cronbach alpha coefficient, corrected item-total correlation, regression, and discriminant analysis were used to assess the instrument’s psychometric properties. ResultsAfter using the modification indices to improve the initial model, a relatively good fit for the three-factor model was confirmed. Concurrent validity with the compulsive cyberporn use (CCU) measure was demonstrated. The PCE-S discriminated between participants with high CCU and those with low CCU scores. ConclusionsA specific pornography craving experience instrument scale, based on the Elaborated Intrusion theory of desire seems to capture key constructs of the theory and correlate with measures of compulsive cyberporn use.