Is Internet Pornography A Normal Part of Growing Up?

Sociologist David Finkelhor, PhD and director of the University of New Hampshire's Crime Against Children Research Center states that although there have been drops in crime, teen pregnancy and declines in run-a-ways, other studies are beginning to show a relationship between Web porn use among teens and the view of sex as a purely physical function with women viewed as sex objects.

This is according to an article called Web Pornography's Effect on Children by Tori DeAngelis in the November 2007 issue of Monitor on Psychology, which is a journal published by The American Psychological Association. Finkelhor is a lead researcher in this area. He states that the more realistic the material is, the more it seems to influence the views of teens. Jochen Peter, PhD and a communications researcher at the University of Amsterdam cautions that limited studies on this subject make it difficult to state whether or not access to Internet porn causes certain views and behavior, however, he and another researcher Patti M. Valkenburg, PhD have found some correlation.

In a Dutch study of 471 Dutch teens between the ages of 13 and 18, teens who reported that they sought out Internet porn also reported that they viewed sex as a function such as eating or drinking-just physical with no emotional attachment or affection necessary. The study was published in the December 2006 Journal of Communication. This study also established a relationship between porn activity and the attitude described; the more realistic material seemed to be responsible for the more extreme views about sex as recreation only.

A March 2007 issue of Sex Roles detailed a Dutch team's research about the link between explicit Internet porn and the teen's views of women as "playthings". About 40 % of teens and preteens visit sexually explicit Internet sites either by choice or because their "Googling" brings up sites they were not expecting. This is according to a February study published in the journal Pediatrics. Janis Wolak, an attorney and Kimberly Mitchell, PhD along with Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire collaborated on this study and found that 42% of a group of 1500 Internet users between the ages of 10 and 17 years old had been exposed to on-line porn in the last year. Of that group of 630 who were exposed to Internet porn, 510 pre-teens and teens stated that the exposure had been accidental. This percentage of pre-teens and teens that report accidentally being exposed to porn has risen from 26 % in 1999-2000 to the 2005 percentage of 34 percent.

Ralph J. DiClemente, PhD at Emory University Health is leading a study that is monitoring 560 teens. They are using the latest technology to track the Web sites that the teens access for a period of 16 months. They are also interviewing the teens bi-monthly regarding their attitudes about sex as well as their sexual behavior. This is one of the new ways for data to be collected in this type of study and is expected to yield more accurate results.

Larry Rosen, PhD at the California State University in Dominguez Hills is conducting a study to measure the impact that parents can have on this problem. His results are not yet published, but the findings so far indicate that teenagers (and younger children) who frequent MySpace and who are exposed to the suggestive sexual content either by viewing porn links or by posting their own content have been influenced by the lifestyles and parenting styles of their parents.

This study required that the parents and teens that are participating pick the parenting style that most closely matched their experience. One of the activities they were asked to consider was the way the parents handled the computer in the home and the teens or children's use of the computer. The categories they could choose from were: authoritative (meaning that they combined warmth and control), authoritarian (control but not much warmth), indulgent
(a lot of warmth but not much control), and neglectful (not much warmth and little control).

The authoritative and the authoritarian parenting styles were the ones who limited the use of MySpace; they usually required that the computer be in a common space instead of the children's bedroom and they had access to their children's MySpace pages. The study has found that those teens and pre-teens were the ones who reported not looking at the sexual content posted by other MySpace users as much as the children with the indulgent or neglectful parents. Rosen states that it appears that when children have rules, they tend to follow them.

Some of the experts who are studying this issue state that sexual curiosity is part of growing up and that in this day and time Internet porn is part of the process. They see little possibility of preventing children from being exposed to it. Jochen Peter, PhD, the communications researcher at the University of Amsterdam states, "When teenagers are old enough to be interested in sex, they are competent enough to find ways to access Internet porn".

However, others like DiClemente, PhD at Emory University Health, feel that constant exposure will erode a teenager's ability to view sex in a way that is mentally, physically and emotionally healthy. DiClemente says, "We don't really know, but we suspect that exposure to, say, 10, 20, 30,000 pages of pornography may bias a young person in terms of what they consider a normal relationship". He states that policy makers and parents will need to decide what action to take if the research shows this to be true.

Source Used:
Web Pornography's Effect on Children by Tori De Angelis
published in Monitor on Psychology Vol. 38 #10 November 2007
(a publication of the American Psychological Association)