Pornography and romantic relationships : a model-based cluster analysis approach

The ability to develop intimate and satisfying relationships is integral to happiness in humans. Given the impact of relationships on well-being, research has increasingly sought to explore the factors that differentiate happy, successful relationships from their unhappy, unsuccessful counterparts. One factor that has begun to receive more attention is the use of pornography by one and/or both partners. Despite numerous attempts to expose the effects of consuming such material, findings have been largely inconsistent and conflicting. These inconsistent and conflicting findings have raised questions about the utility of previous empirical investigations on the construct of pornography and its associated effects at both the individual and relational level. As such, the present study was designed to address some of the existing gaps in the literature specific to how pornography impacts the functioning of romantic relationships. Initially, the goal was to recruit both members of heterosexual romantic dyads and independently survey members on individual (e.g., self-esteem) and relational characteristics (e.g., relationship satisfaction). However, due to difficulties associated with recruiting both members of romantic dyads, a decision was made to modify the research direction. Instead, a primary focus was placed on analyzing the individual-level data and the dyad-level data was used as supplementary. In total, 2714 individuals (1043 self-identified as men; 1671 self-identified as women) completed the online questionnaire, and 91 romantic couples were used to conduct the dyadic analyses. Model-based cluster analysis was the analytic technique of choice as it allowed for the exploration of naturally occurring groupings or clusters. As expected, the use of pornography generated a number of different clusters for both the men and the women. While there was a plethora of interesting findings that emerged, there were three key findings that should be noted: (a) the results highlighted the sheer complexity of romantic relationships and served as a reminder that the direction of relationships between variables (e.g., conflict and relationship satisfaction) is rarely predictable, (b) the results provided some evidence in support of the existence of double standards in romantic relationships, and (c) the results highlighted some notable discrepancies between men and women in terms of predilections to respond to sensitive questions in a manner that serves to preserve the overall perception of romantic relationships.Arts and Social Sciences, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)Psychology, Department of (Okanagan)Graduat