Faculty Sponsor: Professor Jennifer Rose
Live Poster Session: https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/93535330138
Lula Konner
Lula is a senior History and Government major.
Abstract: Since 2000, there has been a significant rise in pornography consumption, and studies have found that watching and viewing porn causes higher rates of loneliness, depression, and unhealthy attitudes and expectations about sex. While religions tend to indict porn consumption for its immorality, and have even launched campaigns against it, some studies have found that Christians in particular have higher rates of porn consumption. This study extends the focus to religiosity more broadly; it examines how religiosity level relates to porn consumption frequency, with a particular focus on high levels of porn consumption. Data were drawn from the 2024 General Social Survey (GSS), using a nationally representative sample of individuals over the age of eighteen living in noninstitutional housing (n=3,309). Higher levels of religiosity were significantly associated with higher frequency of porn consumption among participants. Men were found to have higher frequencies of porn consumption than women across all religiosity levels. These findings suggest that religious people, and religious men specifically, are a group worth studying for researchers interested in porn consumption and its effects, as this group appears to have a higher likelihood of consuming porn frequently than some other groups.