A new longitudinal study published in Psychology of Popular Media has found that increased pornography consumption among university students in Germany is associated with adopting risky sexual scripts and behaviors. The study, which followed participants over nearly two years, provides a comprehensive examination of the temporal link between pornography use and sexual scripts and behaviors.
The global accessibility of pornography has sparked ongoing debate about its potential impact on users’ attitudes and behaviors regarding sex. Pornographic content is consumed by a significant proportion of adults worldwide. Recent data suggest that major pornographic websites receive more traffic than many popular platforms like Amazon and TikTok. While some research suggests that pornography can provide educational benefits, the focus of the new study was on its potential negative influences, particularly on fostering risky sexual behaviors and beliefs.
Theories like cultivation theory and social learning theory posit that media can shape individuals’ views of what is typical and desirable. Pornographic content often normalizes behaviors that are risky with regard to sexual aggression perpetration and victimization, such as casual sexual encounters, alcohol use during sex, and ambiguous communication, potentially influencing users to adopt these behaviors as part of their own sexual scripts.
“In several studies with adolescents and young adults, we proposed and demonstrated that people’s sexual scripts (i.e. their cognitive representation of the common and acceptable elements of consensual sexual interactions) play an important role in trying to understand the risk of sexual aggression perpetration and vulnerability to sexual victimization,” explained Barbara Krahé, professor emerita of social psychology at the University of Potsdam and the corresponding author of the new research.
“Specifically, if sexual scripts contain aspects that are known to be linked to sexual aggression perpetration and victimization, such as engaging in casual sex, alcohol consumption, and lack of consent communication, they predict an increased probability of sexual perpetration and victimization over time. From these findings, the next logical step for us was to ask: Where do the contents of sexual scripts come from, and pornography suggested itself as the ‘natural candidate’.”
“Content analyses of pornographic depictions of consensual sex showed that what we identified as elements of risky sexual scripts have a high prominence in mainstream pornography: partners typically don’t know each other at all prior to the sexual interaction, they do not talk about consent (instead, resistance of an initially non-consenting person is often ignored and shown to change to willing cooperation), and alcohol often plays a role,” Krahé explained.
“Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that the more participants used pornography and the more realistically they considered it to present sexual interactions, the more likely they would be to incorporate these elements into their scripts for consensual sex and the more likely they would be to engage in sexual interactions that involve these elements (i.e. have casual partners, drink, and fail to communicate about consent).”
For their study, the research team recruited 588 students from universities in Berlin and Brandenburg, Germany, to participate in a study examining their sexual behaviors and attitudes. Participants were surveyed three times over a span of 23 months, with 80% completing all three waves. The sample included 380 women and 208 men, with an average age of 22 years at the beginning of the study.
The study focused on two key aspects of pornography consumption: frequency and perceived realism. Participants rated how often they intentionally consumed pornographic content on a five-point scale ranging from “never” to “very often.” To measure perceived realism, participants responded to three statements, such as “The way sexuality is presented in pornographic media is quite realistic,” using a five-point agreement scale.
Participants’ sexual scripts were assessed through a detailed, scenario-based measure. They were asked to imagine spending an evening with a new partner and then engaging in sexual activity. This exercise captured two components: descriptive elements (the likelihood of specific behaviors, such as drinking alcohol or engaging in casual sex) and normative evaluations (participants’ approval or disapproval of these behaviors). Risky sexual scripts were calculated by combining these two scores, with higher values indicating greater endorsement of risky behaviors. Actual sexual behavior was assessed through nine items, such as how often participants had casual sex, used alcohol during sex, or communicated their sexual intentions ambiguously.
The researchers found that participants who reported higher pornography use were more likely to endorse risky sexual scripts, such as casual sex, alcohol use in sexual situations, and ambiguous communication. These scripts were not just abstract beliefs but were reflected in their actual behaviors. For instance, participants who frequently consumed pornography were more likely to engage in casual sex and use alcohol in sexual contexts.
Longitudinal analyses provided evidence for a temporal relationship: frequent pornography use at the start of the study predicted the development of risky sexual scripts and behaviors over time. These associations persisted even after controlling for previous behaviors and beliefs, suggesting that pornography consumption plays a role in shaping sexual scripts rather than merely reflecting pre-existing tendencies.
“The main finding is that pornography serves as a source of learning by shaping the way people construe their own scripts of sexual interactions,” Krahé told PsyPost. “As with all media contents, whether the learning effects are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depends on the content that is presented. In our case, people who watch a lot of pornography and believe it is realistic are more likely to think that it is common and ‘normal’ for sex to take place with partners one does not know, without establishing that both partners want it, and to behave accordingly in their sexual interactions.”
“Because our study asked participants at three data waves over almost two years, we can show the temporal sequence from pornography use and perceived realism to sexual scripts and sexual behavior, which comes as close to demonstrating a causal link between pornography use and perceived realism and risky sexual scripts and behavior as one can get in a non-experimental study.”
Surprisingly, the researchers did not find a significant interaction between the frequency of pornography use and the perceived realism of pornography in predicting risky sexual scripts and behaviors. While both factors were independently associated with risky sexual outcomes, their interaction did not significantly enhance the predictive value of the models.
“We had hypothesized that the frequency of pornography use and the perceived realism of pornography would interact (work together) such that the same frequency of pornography use would be linked more closely to sexual scripts and sexual behavior the more participants considered pornography to present a realistic portrayal of sexual interactions,” Krahé said. “This hypothesis was not supported by our data. Instead, we found that frequency of use and perceived realism worked independently.”
Interestingly, the role of perceived realism varied by gender. Men who perceived pornography as more realistic were more likely to adopt risky sexual scripts and behaviors, supporting the idea that realism enhances the influence of media on attitudes and actions. For women, the relationship was less straightforward. While frequent pornography use still predicted risky behaviors, perceived realism had a negative association with risky sexual behaviors.
“We did not find many gender differences in the paths from pornography to sexual scripts and behavior, although men used pornography significantly more and considered it to be significantly more realistic,” Krahé said. “The only gender differences we found were that greater perceived realism of pornography predicted more risky sexual scripts for men, but not for women, and that the path from perceived realism to more risky sexual behavior was positive for men and negative for women.”
The study also demonstrated the interdependence of sexual scripts and behaviors. Risky sexual scripts predicted risky sexual behaviors at later time points, and these behaviors, in turn, reinforced the scripts, creating a feedback loop. For example, individuals who endorsed casual sex as part of their sexual scripts were more likely to engage in such behaviors, which then reinforced their belief in the appropriateness of these behaviors. This dynamic underscores the importance of addressing both mental representations and behaviors in interventions aimed at reducing risky sexual practices.
As with all research, there are some limitations. The sample consisted solely of university students from Berlin and Brandenburg, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other populations or cultural contexts. Students tend to be younger, more educated, and have access to different types of media compared to the general population, which could influence the results.
The study contributes to a broader research initiative aimed at understanding the factors underlying sexual competence and addressing the causes and prevention of sexual aggression and victimization.
“With this study, we worked our way backwards through a causal model of sexual aggression perpetration and victimization we proposed,” Krahé explained. “We started this program of research by studying the prevalence of sexual aggression perpetration and victimization among young adults. The next step asked what the role of cognitive representations of consensual sex was for understanding sexual aggression, and then – in this study – asked where the contents of the sexual scripts for consensual sex come from.”
“In another set of papers, we tested an intervention designed to prevent sexual aggression perpetration and victimization through a theory-based program that focused on changing risky sexual scripts and risky sexual behavior (“risky” always defined in relation to sexual aggression). Although our intervention (see here) contained a module designed to reduce the perception of pornography as realistic, that module was not successful in achieving this goal, so we need to revise and improve it.”
The study, “The Role of Pornography in Shaping Young Adults’ Sexual Scripts and Sexual Behavior: A Longitudinal Study With University Students,” was authored by Barbara Krahé, Paulina Tomaszewska, and Isabell Schuster.
