Violence
Violent pornography use and acceptance of sexual coercion in adolescents: The mediating role of risky sexual scripts and low sexual self-esteem.
Open Access: No.
Abstract
Introduction. The use of pornography is ubiquitous in adolescence, and a substantial proportion of users are exposed to pornography showing violence. Adolescents tend to be less critical of those depictions than adults, so their influence on adolescents’ attitudes is of concern. The current study examined the association between the use of violent pornography and the acceptance of sexual coercion, considering risky sexual scripts and low sexual self-esteem as mediators, and the use of non-violent pornography, gender, age, and sexual orientation as covariates.
Method. A sample of 221 adolescents (69.7% female; mean age of 16.9 years) from Germany completed an online questionnaire. The data were collected in 2021.
Results. As predicted, higher frequency of violent pornography use was significantly related to greater acceptance of sexual coercion. The indirect paths via risky sexual scripts and low sexual self-esteem were also statistically significant.
Conclusions. The findings provide an understanding of the mechanisms that link violent pornography use to the acceptance of sexual coercion, which suggests ways to prevent the acceptance of sexual coercion in adolescence.
Policy Implications. The study findings point to the importance of porn literacy and building sexual competencies in adolescents as topics that should be included in sex education programs.
Relevance
“More frequent use of violent pornography was associated with more risky sexual scripts, greater acceptance of sexual coercion, more frequent use of non-violent pornography.”
“More risky sexual scripts were associated with lower sexual self-esteem, greater acceptance of sexual coercion, more frequent non-violent pornography use, and prior sexual experiences.”
“Greater acceptance of sexual coercion was associated with more frequent use of non-violent pornography.”
In sum, “As predicted, we found that more frequent use of violent pornography was associated with a greater acceptance of sexual coercion, controlling for the use of non-violent pornography and demographic variables.” Additionally, “the association between violent pornography use and acceptance of sexual coercion was mediated by more risky sexual scripts and lower sexual self-esteem.” Last, “more frequent use of violent pornography is linked to lower sexual self-esteem constitutes a novel contribution. Adolescents who reported higher frequencies of violent pornography use reported a lower perception of worth as a sexual being, including, for example, being worried about being sexually exploited, being afraid of losing control in sexual. situations, not feeling comfortable with their sexuality, and being embarrassed by their sexual inexperience.”
In all, “the present study showed a link between violent pornography use and adolescents’ mental representation of sexual interactions as well as their perception of worth as a sexual being which, in turn, were related to a higher acceptance of sexual coercion. These results suggest the need for education efforts to promote young people’s competence in handling and understanding pornography.”
Citation
Schuster, I., Tomaszewska, P., Krahé, B., & Hein, S. (2025). Violent pornography use and acceptance of sexual coercion in adolescents: The mediating role of risky sexual scripts and low sexual self-esteem. Sexuality Research & Social Policy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-025-01209-1
