Deviant Pornography Use

Abstract

The impact of both intentional and unintentional exposure to internet pornography on adolescents has been debated in the literature for decades. However, the differences in the operational definitions of pornography and exposure, not to mention the differences in methodology and sampling, make it difficult to synthesize findings and identify patterns across studies. In addition, the majority of the research has employed a rather broad measure of “exposure to general pornography” by adolescents in order to understand the impact of early exposure to pornography; however, internet pornography includes a wide range of sexually explicit materials, not just adult pornography. Thus, the goal of this chapter is to explore the relationship between nondeviant pornography use and deviant pornography use (e.g., child pornography) by discussing the Seigfried-Spellar study which examined the role of individual differences and age of onset in deviant pornography use.