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Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 30, No. 2, 2001
Searching for Sexually Explicit Materials on the Internet: An Exploratory Study of College Students’ Behavior and Attitudes Patricia Goodson, Ph.D.,1,4 Deborah McCormick, Ph.D.,2 and Alexandra Evans, Ph.D.3
The convergence of sexuality messages with a computerized medium (specifically, the Internet) represents an unprecedented phenomenon with, as of yet, unknown outcomes. Despite the Internet’s widespread use, little is known about users’ behaviors and attitudes when searching for sexually explicit materials online. This study examined specific behaviors and outcome expectations and expectancies (or attitudes) of a sample of 506 undergraduate students at a public university in Texas. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire, designed and pretested by the authors. Main results revealed that most students in the sample were infrequent and relatively new users of the Internet. Forty-three percent (43.5%) of students had sometime accessed sexually explicit materials through the Internet, but the practice was not very common. Only 2.9% said they accessed these materials “frequently.” Male students were significantly more likely to have accessed the Internet for viewing sexually explicit materials and to claim curiosity about sex as their motivation for this behavior. Women were significantly more likely to have experienced sexual harassment while online. In terms of attitudes, this sample did not appear to value highly or exhibit strong beliefs about the potential outcomes associated with accessing the Internet for sexually explicit materials. Competing explanations as well as the limitations of this study are discussed. KEY WORDS: Internet; erotica; attitudes; behavior; undergraduates.
1 Texas
A&M University, Department of Health and Kinesiology, College Station, Texas. Arizona University, Department of Health Promotion and Exercise Science, Flagstaff, Arizona. 3 School of Public Health, The University of Texas, Houston, Texas. 4 To whom correspondence should be addressed at Dept. of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, 4243 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843-4243; e-mail:
[email protected]. 2 Northern
101 C 2001 Plenum Publishing Corporation 0004-0002/01/0400-0101$19.50/0 °
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INTRODUCTION Communication media have actively impacted the social construction of human sexuality worldwide. Television, radio, movies, magazines, and music (among others) have modeled attitudes and behavior, created new vocabulary and symbols, and promoted norms for personal interactions. An illustration of this impact is the manner in which North-American adolescents and college students have consistently pointed to the media as having similar or stronger influence than their families on the development of their sexual knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors (Ballard and Morris, 1998; Haffner and Kelly, 1987; Koch, 1998). Presently, the convergence of sexuality messages with a computerized network medium may well represent one of the most unique and unprecedented combination of these two potent forces (sex and the Internet). This association will undoubtedly yield unparalleled effects (both positive and negative) in terms of the social construction of sexuality, establishment and development of intimacy, sexual attitudes and behaviors, and communication patterns (sexual or otherwise). These effects are worthy of social scientific examination (Cooper, 1998). On the positive end of the spectrum, the Internet is already impacting the dissemination of sexual knowledge through informational web sites such as the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) webpage (www.siecus.org), “Go Ask Alice!” (www.goaskalice.columbia.edu), the Germany-based Archiv f¨ur Sexualwissenschaft, (http://www.rki.de/GESUND/ ARCHIV/HOME.HTM), www.teenwire.com of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Kinsey Institute Sexuality Information Service for Students (KISISS; www.indiana.edu/∼kinsey). Dissemination of information is not, however, the only positive effect of the interplay between the Internet and sexuality. Other constructive outcomes include the potential for development and maintenance of relationships (Cooper, 1998); the development of deeper, more personal interactions, as users are better able to self-disclose and take greater interpersonal risks (Cooper and Sportolari, 1997; Parks and Floyd, 1999; Parks and Roberts, 1998); the use of the Internet for advocacy and networking, especially among gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender groups (Carey, 1996; Weinrich, 1997); the development of support groups, communities, and online sex therapy (Cart, 1997; Newman, 1997; Scheerhorn et al., 1995); the use of the Internet as a tool for data collection in research of sexuality-related topics (Binik et al., 1999; Ross et al., in press); and the potential use of the Internet for delivery of counseling, disease control and prevention services (Acevedo et al., 1998; DeGuzman and Ross, 1999; Henry, 1999; Roffman et al., 1997). Despite such a rich composite of benefits, the interaction between the Internet and human sexuality has also engendered strong concerns regarding issues of censorship (Portelli and Meade, 1998), addictive usage or disruption of personal routines and relationships (Cooper et al., 1999), psychological well-being (Kraut
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et al., 1998), and distancing of individuals from their offline communities (Cart, 1997). There is also concern that the problems traditionally associated with other types of media and their treatment of sexuality may be transferable to the Internet. Among these problems are the desensitization toward violence among viewers of violent sexual materials, the juxtaposition of consumption of pornography and violent or criminal sexual behavior, and the relationship between attitudes toward sexuality exhibited in the popular media and the socialization process of children and teenaged viewers (Allen et al., 1995a,b; Becker and Stein, 1991; Fisher and Barak, 1991; Harris, 1994; Koop, 1987; Kutchinsky, 1991; Scott, 1991; Zillmann and Bryant, 1988). While the number of users increases rapidly (56.7 million in 1997, 78.6 million in 1998, 92.0 million in 1999 in the US and Canada) “sex” is, by far, one of the most commonly searched topics on the Internet. According to searchterms.com the term sex was ranked number two among the top ten search terms on the Internet in December of 1999 (based on a sampling of at least a million searches); “mp3” (or compressed digital music files) was ranked number one while “porn” and “playboy” were ranked 12th and 14th, respectively (CommerceNet, 1999; Newburger, 1999; Searchterms.com, 1999). Despite such widespread use, little is known about Internet users regarding their behaviors and attitudes when searching for sexually explicit materials online (Barak and Fisher, 1997). The goal of this study is to contribute to this new corpus of knowledge by examining these factors within a sample of college students. College students were chosen as the target population because their age, education, interest in sexuality, computer literacy, and access to computers make them particularly attractive for Internet information, dissemination, communication, and commerce (Tamosaitis, 1995).
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND PURPOSE Social Cognitive Theory was the theoretical framework for this study. This theory has been extensively used in studies of the diffusion of ideas, products, and values through mass communication, as well as for exploring the effects of consumption of sexually explicit materials upon violent sexual behavior (Allen et al., 1995b; Bandura, 1994). In contrast with earlier theories of media influence, Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) provides a nonsimplistic view of the relationship among media messages/symbols, human attitudes, behavior, and environment. The theory proposes that people are both products and producers of their environment: individuals’ behaviors, personal factors (such as cognition, affection, and biology) as well as environmental influences all interact bidirectionally, or reciprocally (Bandura, 1994). In the case of Internet influence, people are not passive consumers of the medium; rather, they control the potential effects of its messages through
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mechanisms of self-regulation and self-reflection, that is, by “filtering” its symbols through personal beliefs and values (Bryant and Zillmann, 1994). Although the impact of the media upon attitudes and behavior is hypothesized to be mediated through mechanisms of self-regulation and self-reflection, this impact is, nonetheless, especially powerful because of the manner in which the content is modeled to consumers. Content modeling is usually carried out through mechanisms of emotional arousal and observational learning (Bandura, 1986; Harris, 1994). Considering that most people in their daily lives interact only with small portions of their physical and social environments, much of people’s understanding of reality is acquired vicariously: by observing others and learning from their experiences. Furthermore, these observations are not neutral in terms of affect: they may generate strong emotions which, in turn, influence the learning that occurs. According to Bandura, to a large extent “people act on their images of reality. The more people’s images of reality depend on the media’s symbolic environment, the greater is its social impact” (emphasis added; Bandura, 1994). Considering human beings’ capacity for self-regulation, self-reflection, and observational learning, as well as the power of media in shaping consumers’ views of reality, identifying users’ behavior and outcome expectations and expectancies (or attitudes) regarding the media is vital. Learning about these behaviors and attitudes is paramount to both understanding and possibly modifying (for health promotion purposes, for instance) the impact of the Internet upon the social construction of sexuality. Outcome expectations (or antecedent determinants of behavior, in SCT) are defined as a person’s beliefs concerning the results of a certain action (e.g., “Sexually explicit materials on the Internet help me improve my sexual relationships offline.”); expectancies (or incentives, in SCT) constitute the values placed on, or the importance given to those anticipated results (e.g., “It is very important to me to improve my sexual relationships offline.”; Bandura, 1986). Outcome expectations and expectancies are determinants of attitudes, that is, a person’s attitude toward an object may be construed as a linear combination of outcome expectations and expectancies toward the object being investigated. For the purposes of this paper the term attitude will be employed to refer collectively to the set of outcome expectations (beliefs about outcomes of certain behaviors) and expectancies (value placed on specific behaviors and their outcomes) exhibited by participants in this study (Bandura, 1986; Baranowski et al., 1997). Statistical analyses will be presented for outcome expectations and expectancies separately, however, as the detailed examination of each component is more informative and revealing than the combination of constructs. In summary, the purpose of our study was to examine the following questions: What are some of the specific behaviors reported by college students while searching the Internet for sexually explicit materials? What are their attitudes (outcome expectations and expectancies) while searching the Internet for sexually explicit materials? Do males and females differ in their expectations, expectancies, and
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behavior? In this study, the phrase “sexually explicit materials” was defined (for participants) as those materials “that either show clear pictures of, or talk/write about sexuality using sexual vocabulary.” The phrases “use of the Internet for viewing sexually explicit materials” and “use of the Internet for sexual entertainment” will be used interchangeably throughout the text. METHOD Sample A sample of 506 college students from a major public university in Texas responded to a paper-and-pencil, self-administered questionnaire. Participants were enrolled in upper-level undergraduate health classes during the Spring and Summer of 1998; they volunteered for the study and signed an informed consent, prior to participation. The study was approved by the university’s Institutional Review Board and students were ensured anonymity of responses. The sample consisted mainly of female students (61.9%) with a mean age of 25.21 years (SD = 5.85). One unique characteristic of this group was the large representation of Hispanic students. The sample was almost evenly split between Anglo (46.8% of Non-Hispanic/White) and Hispanic (41.6% of Mexican American/Hispanic/Latino). Sixty-three percent (63.6%) of students were single, whereas 21.1% were married. In terms of religious preference, half the sample (50.0%) was Catholic and 28.9% was Protestant; 42.4% of students with a religious preference considered themselves religiously moderate, 25.7% liberal, and nearly a fourth of the sample classified itself as conservative/fundamentalist. Measures The instrument used in this study was developed by the authors and tested for reliability and validity with the same sample described here. Description of the development of the instrument and its psychometric characteristics is presented elsewhere (Goodson et al., 2000). The questionnaire was designed to assess college students’ practices and attitudes when utilizing the Internet for three purposes: (a) obtaining information related to sexuality (for school, work-related projects, or personal information); (b) establishing and maintaining relationships (such as using e-mail or participating in chat-groups), and (c) sexual entertainment (viewing of sexually explicit materials). In addition to questions about e-mail and Internet use, the instrument contained items measuring practices, and outcome expectations and expectancies for the three functions just described. All outcome expectations and expectancy scales demonstrated appropriate internal consistency (Cronbach αs ranging from .76 to .95) and temporal stability over a 2-week period (Pearson rs ranged from .69 to
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.78). The scales were also factor-analyzed; the resulting factor structure accounted for 68.8% of the variance. For the purposes of this paper, results relating only to the behavioral and attitudinal items in the third section of the questionnaire (use of the Internet for sexual entertainment) are presented. RESULTS E-Mail and Internet Use Seventy-four percent (74.4%) of respondents said they used e-mail and 90.1% used the Internet. Usage of both media was, however, not very frequent for the majority of the respondents: 40% of e-mail users said they used it less than once a week, and 73% of Internet users gave the same response. Twenty-nine percent of students who use e-mail said they did so on a daily basis; only 4% of users accessed the Internet daily. Male and female students did not differ significantly either in their e-mail and Internet use (χ 2 = 0.429, 1 df, p < .29 for e-mail use; χ 2 = 0.878, 1 df, p < .22 for Internet use) or regarding the frequency of use (χ 2 = 0.837, 2 df, p < .66 for e-mail; χ 2 = 0.539, 2 df, p < .76 for Internet). Although differences were not statistically significant, more male students declared they did not use email or Internet. (Table I). Similar to results in a study by Al-Khaldi and Al-Jabri (1998), academic rank was also not associated with e-mail or Internet usage. Use of e-mail and Internet was a recent phenomenon for most of our sample: 31.9% of e-mail users said they had begun using e-mail within the last 2–3 years; 26.6% had begun using it within the previous 6–12 months. Only 8.1% of students had used e-mail for more than 3 years. Regarding Internet use, 38.4% said they had begun using this medium within the last 2–3 years, whereas 34.3% had begun using it in the previous 6–12 months. Similar to e-mail users, only 8.0% said they had begun using the Internet over 3 years prior to the interview. Female and male students did not differ significantly in their history of e-mail or Internet use (χ 2 = 4.655, 4 df, p < .32 for e-mail; χ 2 = 5.659, 4 df, p < .23 for Internet). When asked from where they usually log on to e-mail or Internet, almost half of users (47.4% of e-mail users and 46.2% of Internet users) said they logged on from a campus computer. Men and women, once again, did not differ significantly in this category (χ 2 = 0.179, 3 df, p < .98 for e-mail log-on and χ 2 = .4.910, 3 df, p < .18 for Internet; Table I). Among other user characteristics examined, similar numbers of male and female students (64.2% and 70.2%, respectively) said they used e-mail to communicate with family and friends. Although 43.3% of Internet users said they used it to search for sex-related information, this answer was given more frequently by males (56.5%) than by females (35.2%), and the difference was statistically significant (χ 2 = 22.009, 1 df, p < .001). Twenty-eight percent of Internet and e-mail users (28.7%) reported having established new friendships over the Internet/e-mail; the distributions were similar for men and women (Table I).
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Table I. Percentage Distribution and Chi-Square Statistics for Male and Female Students According to Characteristics and Purposes of E-Mail and Internet Usage
Use of e-mail Uses Doesn’t use Frequency of use Daily 2–3 times a week
