Mental Health
Problematic pornography consumption as existential escape from boredom: A replication study.
Open Access: Yes.
Abstract
Previous research, informed by the existential escape hypothesis, highlighted that pornography may be used to escape from perceived meaninglessness indicated by boredom. Specifically, perceived meaninglessness significantly predicted increased frequency of pornography consumption, using pornography for excitement seeking, and for sexual pleasure via boredom and emotional avoidance (i.e., indirect serial relationships). [Note: the original study can be found in the Culture Reframed library, “Pornography consumption as existential escape from boredom.”] In the current research, we aimed to replicate this model, substituting problematic pornography consumption as the outcome variable. As expected, perceived meaninglessness significantly predicted increased problematic pornography consumption via boredom and using pornography for emotional avoidance. This indirect serial relationship was also significant when each subscale of the problematic pornography consumption measure was used as the outcome variable. Further, we replicated original findings such that the indirect serial relationship was significant when frequency of pornography consumption was the outcome variable. The novelty of this research is that it incorporates problematic pornography consumption as a means of existential escape from boredom, heretofore not empirically tested. Further, our replication consolidates pornography consumption as a means of existential escape from the meaninglessness signalled by boredom by measuring a different aspect of pornography consumption.
Relevance
“Our replication study contributes to the literature by consolidating the notion that pornography may be used as an existential escape from perceived meaninglessness in life indicated by boredom. Problematic pornography consumption and increased frequency of pornography use may be outcomes of this process. A novel contribution of our study is that it incorporates problematic pornography consumption as a means of existential escape.”
Citation
Monks, M., & Moynihan, A. B. (2026). Problematic pornography consumption as existential escape from boredom: A replication study. Acta psychologica, 264, Article 106456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106456
