Erotic Use of Social Media Pornography in Gratifying Romantic Relationship Desires

Abstract

The advent of social media platforms has revolutionized the process of information creation, dissemination and consumption. Although highly debated, pornography consumption on social media is a reality. Building on an acquisition, activation, and application model, this study investigates student's (n = 379) gratification in romantic relationships as an outcome of their pornography consumption on social media, through the mediating effect of sexual confidence and sexual compulsivity. PROCESS macro was used to analyze the data. Results indicate that the effect of pornography consumption on a viewer's gratification in a romantic relationship is partially mediated by sexual confidence (beta = .0461, p < .001) and sexual compulsivity (beta = .420, p < .001). These findings hold important contributions to current literature. Findings also indicate that pornography consumption positively and significantly aids a viewer's sexual gratification in romantic relationships.