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Pornography and Marriage

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  • Kirk Doran
  • Joseph Price

Abstract

We used data on 20,000 ever-married adults in the General Social Survey to examine the relationship between watching pornographic films and various measures of marital well-being. We found that adults who had watched an X-rated movie in the past year were more likely to be divorced, more likely to have had an extramarital affair, and less likely to report being happy with their marriage or happy overall. We also found that, for men, pornography use reduced the positive relationship between frequency of sex and happiness. Finally, we found that the negative relationship between pornography use and marital well-being has, if anything, grown stronger over time, during a period in which pornography has become both more explicit and more easily available. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Kirk Doran & Joseph Price, 2014. "Pornography and Marriage," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 489-498, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:35:y:2014:i:4:p:489-498
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-014-9391-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hamida Mubasshera, 2024. "Pornography usage during adolescence: Does it lead to risky sexual behavior?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(8), pages 1682-1704, August.
    2. Edward Castronova, 2023. "Preference evolution, attention, and happiness," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(2), pages 301-315, May.
    3. Sheena Murray, 2020. "How broadband and cell phone access have impacted marriage and divorce in the US," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 431-459, June.
    4. Jeffrey Dew & Sarah Tulane, 2015. "The Association Between Time Spent Using Entertainment Media and Marital Quality in a Contemporary Dyadic National Sample," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 621-632, December.
    5. Cheng, Zhiming & Smyth, Russell, 2015. "Sex and happiness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 26-32.
    6. Malcolm, Michael & Naufal, George S, 2014. "Are Pornography and Marriage Substitutes for Young Men?," IZA Discussion Papers 8679, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. Jeffrey Dew, 2021. "Ten Years of Marriage and Cohabitation Research in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 52-61, July.
    8. Junzhao Ma & Dewi Tojib & Yelena Tsarenko, 2022. "Sex Robots: Are We Ready for Them? An Exploration of the Psychological Mechanisms Underlying People’s Receptiveness of Sex Robots," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(4), pages 1091-1107, July.

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