Association of Pornography Consumption with Health and Risky Sexual Behaviors of Youngsters in Pakistan: A Quantitative Approach

The present study aimed to examine the association of pornography consumption with the health and risky sexual behaviors of youngsters. Two hundred and twenty-four participants (166 males, 58 females) from the public and private sector educational institutions of Multan, Pakistan, responded to the survey. The participants were selected through snowball sampling as it was an uphill task to identify the participants and persuade them to fill out the questionnaire. The findings indicated a strong correlation between frequent consumption of pornography with health (psychological & physical) and risky sexual behaviors of viewers. Despite a conservative society, heavy consumption of pornography on a daily and weekly basis (72%) is associated with risky sexual behaviors, i.e., using medicines to increase sexual power (p=0.045), intercourse with commercial sex workers without protection (condoms) (p=0.033), forceful sex with a life partner (p=0.038), sexual imitation as watched in pornography (p=0.005), and excessive masturbation after every exposure (p=0.018). Psychologically, frequent pornography consumption was related to feelings of loneliness and depression, while physically with a higher heartbeat and sweating on the body. The association between pornography consumption by youngsters and their health and risky sexual behaviors has been well established. Further research is warranted to obtain more outcomes and reasons behind the consumption of pornography content to suggest valuable measures to policymakers.