Mental Health

Open Access: No.

Abstract

Albeit a positive association between pornography use frequency (PUF) and body dissatisfaction has been identified, studies examining the link between PUF and disordered eating behavior (DEB) have been highly limited in scope (e.g., only focused on men) and have several limitations (e.g., lack of a longitudinal study design and small sample size). The present study aimed to address one of these gaps by examining the longitudinal associations between PUF and DEB, while considering the mediating role of body dissatisfaction over a 1-year period in a sample of young adults. We performed an autoregressive cross-lagged analysis with a multi-group approach among 3764 adults (Mage = 23.00, SD age = 4.74, 48.24% men and 51.75% women). Our findings showed that higher levels of PUF were cross-sectionally associated with higher levels of DEB among men and women at T1. However, at T2, higher levels of PUF were associated with lower levels of DEB among men and women. Longitudinally, baseline PUF was positively associated with DEB among men and women. However, the reverse association was not observed. Furthermore, the results indicated that body dissatisfaction partially mediated the associations of PUF at baseline (T1) with DEB at the 1-year follow-up (T2) both for men (bindirect = .047, 95% CI [.012, .078], p = .011) and women (bindirect = .033, 95% CI [.001, .059], p = .044). Body dissatisfaction seems to play a significant mediating role in the relationship between PUF and DEB. Clinicians treating clients with DEB may consider PUF as a potential contributing factor to the development of eating disturbances via body dissatisfaction.

Relevance

This study found that pornographic use frequency or “PUF may be considered a risk factor for. the development of DEB” or disordered eating behavior. This association was “stronger” for women than for men. “Given that pornography includes idealized bodies, it is more likely for the individual to engage in upward comparison and as a result one may develop body dissatisfaction, which, in turn, may result in eating problems.”

“Based on these findings, clinicians treating clients with DEB may consider inquiring about their clients’ pornography use and body dissatisfaction. as a potential factors contributing to the development and maintenance of DEB.”

Citation

Demirgül, S. A., Aranda, F. F., Murcia, S. J., Paksi, B., Czakó, A., Demetrovics, Z., & Bőthe, B. (2025). A Longitudinal Examination of the Mediating Role of Body Dissatisfaction in the Relationship Between Pornography Use Frequency and Eating Disturbances: A Cross-Lagged Mediation Model. Archives of sexual behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-025-03289-x