Mental Health
Problematic Pornography Use and Clinical and Psychosocial Correlates Among Low-Income U.S. Veterans: an Exploratory Study.
Open Access: Yes.
Abstract
Problematic pornography use (PPU) is prevalent among veterans and often co-occurs with psychiatric concerns and traumatic experiences. This study aimed to understand the prevalence and correlates of PPU in a representative sample of low-income U.S. military veterans. Data were analyzed from 292 veterans who participated in the National Veteran Homeless and Other Poverty Experiences (NV-HOPE) study conducted in 2022-2023. Veterans completed the Brief Pornography Screen. Chi-square tests, analyses of variance, and logistic regression modeling were conducted to identify unadjusted and adjusted associations between PPU status and sociodemographic, psychiatric, functioning, and homelessness measures. Among the total sample a quarter (25.5%) reported PPU symptomatology (BPS score > = 1), with 11.8% meeting criteria for PPU (BPS score > = 4). Individuals screening positive for PPU were more likely to be younger, male, and of Hispanic ethnicity and have a VA service-connected disability rating. PPU was associated with lifetime and current psychiatric disorders, self-directed violence, history of homelessness, loneliness, higher impulsivity, lower resilience, and less successful aging. PPU was linked to multiple negative health factors, suggesting the need for further investigation, screening, and interventions for PPU in this vulnerable subpopulation of veterans.
Relevance
Among low-income U.S. military veterans, problematic pornography use (PPU) was associated with being a younger male, to have served in the Marines, to to have a service-connected disability.
“Veterans with PPU were more likely to screen positive for a range of psychiatric conditions.” As such, pornography is a “maladaptive coping” strategy “to relieve negative feelings that accompany multiple psychiatric conditions.”
Among low-income veterans, PPU was “associated with greater loneliness, impulsiveness, and low resilience” – that is, “difficulties in emotion regulation” – as well as “lower perceptions of health and successful aging, “raising concerns about how dysregulated pornography use may interfere with or relate to veterans’ well-being and life satisfaction.”
Veterans with PPU also reported higher rates of homelessness.
Citation
Stefanovics, E.A., Potenza, M.N. & Tsai, J. Problematic Pornography Use and Clinical and Psychosocial Correlates Among Low-Income U.S. Veterans: an Exploratory Study. Psychiatric Quarterly (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-025-10210-1
