Porn or Partner Arousal? When It Comes to Romantic Relationships, Not All Sexual Arousal Is Equal: A Prospective Study

TL;DR

This study finds that sexual arousal from pornography is linked to declines in relationship quality and satisfaction, unlike arousal from a romantic partner.

Contribution

The paper is the first to prospectively examine how arousal from pornography affects romantic relationships.

Findings

Porn arousal was associated with significant declines in sexual satisfaction over 2 months.

Porn arousal also led to declines in relationship quality and stability.

Partner arousal showed no significant associations with changes in relational outcomes.

Abstract

Little is known about the role of subjective sexual arousal within romantic relationships. The current paper addresses this limitation using a prospective study design that investigates the direct associations between subjective sexual arousal induced by a romantic partner (partner arousal) and arousal induced by pornography (porn arousal) on changes in relational outcomes. A total of 309 participants who were in a current romantic relationship completed measures of partner and porn arousal as well as relational outcomes (i.e., sexual satisfaction and relationship quality and stability) at baseline (T1) and completed a second assessment of relational outcomes 2 months later (T2). Partner arousal was found to have no significant associations with changes in relational outcomes; however, porn arousal was associated with significant declines in sexual satisfaction and relationship quality and stability over a 2-month period. This paper is the first to examine how feeling sexually aroused by porn may impact relational outcomes for those in romantic relationships.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10508-024-02985-4.

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