Despite a lack of consensus in the field about how best to conceptualize problematic pornography use, psychometric instruments have nonetheless been developed to assess the construct.

The gap

Consensus across the literature

Supporting evidence — 4 representative gaps

• Validity and reliability of the short version of the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale (PPCS-6-A) in adolescents. (2021) · doi

  OBJECTIVE: Despite the high prevalence of adolescents' pornography use and increasing societal concerns about it, the examination of problematic pornography use (PPU) among this population is still scarce, potentially due to the lack of well-validated, reliable measures.

  Keywords: pornography objective despite high prevalence adolescents increasing societal concerns examination problematic among population still scarce
• Prevalence and Factors Associated with Intentional Pornography Access among Spanish Adolescents (2026) · doi

  While our study provides an important first quantitative description of intentional pornography access among Span- ish adolescents, several limitations must be acknowledged. First, certain at-risk youth populations may not be fully rep- resented in our sample (e.g., homeless, detained, runaway, or sheltered youth), which might lead to an underestimation of prevalence in groups with potentially higher vulnerabil- ity. Second, given the sensitive nature of questions about pornography, participants might underreport their usage due to social desirability or discomfort. Although self-adminis- tered electronic surveys tend to reduce this bias among ado- lescents (Romer et al., 1997), this risk cannot be entirely eliminated (Tourangeau & Yan, 2007). Third, our design did not capture detailed consumption characteristics, such as frequency of use in hours or users’ attitudes toward pornography — dimensions that are critical to fully understanding the phenomenon. Additionally, we did not assess other variables that the literature identifies as Sexuality Research and Social Policy1 3relevant to pornography consumption, such as previous sex- ual experiences (Ševčíková & Konečný, 2011), despite evi- dence that sexually active adolescents are more likely to be exposed to sexual material (Bleakley et al., 2008; Ševčíková et al., 2014). As a result, potentially important moderating or mediating factors remain unmeasured. Fourth, we did not gather data on the age of first exposure to pornography. Evidence from Spain indicates that many children encoun- ter pornography for the first time before age 12, often unin- tentionally, and that early exposure may be associated with more problematic patterns of consumption during adoles- cence (Alonso Ruido et al., 2022). This limitation restricts our ability to examine developmental pathways related to pornography use. Fifth, the study did not distinguish between different types of pornography (e.g., violent vs. non-violent, mainstream vs. user-generated). This lack of differentiation may obscure the potential varying effects of exposure to dif- ferent content types on attitudes, behaviors, and well-being. Mixed-methods approaches would be particularly valuable in future research to better capture adolescents’ experiences with diverse forms of pornographic material. Sixth, we lacked information on technology-related sociodemographic variables known to influence pornog- raphy access, such as device ownership, age at obtaining a personal device, unrestricted internet access, and paren- tal control. Recent studies show that early smartphone ownership, limited parental supervision, and unrestricted connectivity significantly increase opportunities for access- ing online sexual content (Rivas-Koehl et al., 2023). The omission of these variables limits our ability to contextu- alize intentional access within adolescents’ broader digital environments. Finally, although our study offers a broad snapshot of intentional access in a large adolescent sample, its cross- sectional design prevents causal inferences. Longitudinal studies would allow a deeper understanding of how device access, early exposure, parental control, and content type collectively shape pornography consumption trajectories over time.

  Keywords: pornography access first adolescents consumption exposure intentional variables early content device important among risk youth
• Surveying Pornography Use: A Shaky Science Resting on Poor Measurement Foundations (2019) · doi

  This state of affairs is problematic for the accumulation of knowledge about the nature of pornography use, its antecedents, correlates, and consequences, as it can contribute to inconsistent results across studies and undermine the generalizability of research findings.

  Keywords: state affairs problematic accumulation knowledge nature pornography antecedents correlates consequences contribute inconsistent across undermine generalizability
• Psychometric Instruments for Problematic Pornography Use: A Systematic Review (2019) · doi

  Despite a lack of consensus in the field about how best to conceptualize problematic pornography use, psychometric instruments have nonetheless been developed to assess the construct.

  Keywords: despite lack consensus field best conceptualize problematic pornography psychometric instruments nonetheless developed assess construct