Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations Between Pornography Use and Dating Violence Victimization: Are There Risks for Teenagers?

Dating violence victimization (DVV) is a prevalent public health problem with harmful consequences among adolescents. Pornography use has been identified among the factors associated with DVV. However, most studies have relied on cross-sectional designs, limiting the ability to determine temporal relationships between these variables. The present study assessed bidirectional longitudinal associations between pornography use and DVV (psychological, physical, and sexual), also examining cross-sectional associations and gender differences. Participants’ self-report data from two assessments of a longitudinal study were used. The sample consisted of 1,556 teenagers ( M age = 14.55 years, SD age = .630; 51.5% were girls) having reported an intimate relationship in the past year at the first and/or second time point (T1/T2). Whereas some cross-sectional associations between pornography use and DVV were observed at T1, results from the autoregressive cross-lagged model revealed no significant longitudinal association between pornography use and the three forms of DVV, regardless of gender. Thus, pornography use may not represent a significant risk factor over time for DVV in adolescents. These findings provide additional insights concerning the associations between pornography use and DVV and suggest that emphasis should perhaps be placed on other variables in the study of risk factors for DVV. Still, although modest, transversal links support the importance of interventions that promote healthy intimate relationships in adolescence and education about pornography use.