Pornography use is a common activity in the developed world. This work consolidates research about pornography use into an organizational structure that is relevant to sexual motivation more broadly. To accomplish this, a comprehensive review of research is conducted, examining personality, emotional, and attitudinal associates and predictors of pornography use, as well as behaviours, attitudes, and motivations that are associated with or predicted by pornography use. Reviewing over 130 studies, the present work demonstrates that pornography is most often consumed for pleasure-seeking purposes, that it associated with increases in casual or impersonal approaches to sexuality, and that it predicts more pleasure-oriented approaches to sexual behaviour. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Prior work has shown that religious individuals tend to be critical of Internet pornography (IP). Additionally, people who harbor negative views about their own IP use are more likely to experience psychological distress and religious/spiritual (r/s) struggles. The present research attempted to bring these bodies of research together by examining the relations between engaging with IP (perceived addiction to IP, actual IP use, and moral evaluations of IP), indicators of psychosocial adaptation (self-esteem and state anger), and r/s functioning (religiousness, anger toward God). A study was conducted using a large sample of undergraduate students (N = 1,070) who reported using IP and at least some belief in God. Correlational and network analyses revealed that religiousness was associated with moral disapproval of IP and perceived addiction to IP. Perceived addiction to IP (rather than actual IP use) was related to lower self-esteem, more anger, and more anger directed toward God. This study provides a partial psychological and r/s profile of college students varying in the degree to which they perceive themselves as addicted to IP. Potential clinical implications of these findings are discussed.