Study Suggests Many Adolescents Are “Heavy Porn Users”

A survey was conducted among 13 and 14 year olds (male and female) in various rural and urban areas. This survey was focused on the access of pornographic materials.

The survey suggests that 90% of the adolescent male have at least seen a pornographic material once and 70% of the adolescent female have seen the same type of material with the same frequency.

This is very alarming since ages 13 and 14 are still considered very young and any pornographic materials can be dangerous. Another point of concern is that 1/3 of the boys admit that they have continuous access of pornographic material.

This group can’t even remember how many times they have seen pornographic materials. This study was conducted by the University of Alberta to further gain knowledge of the behavior of adolescents regarding pornography.

The study showed a big difference in behavior when it comes to accessing pornographic material between genders. Most adolescent male at this age willingly watch these materials. Some even conduct group watching wherein they secretly congregate in one area to watch pornographic materials.

Adolescent female on the other hand have only accessed pornographic materials accidentally. Almost every female adolescent do not seek out additional access to pornographic material. Most adolescent female are not interested or see this type of behavior as a taboo.

This difference in behavior towards sex might have serious consequences in the future. The materials seen by adolescent male is often “hardcore” which usually does not happen in real intimacy.

This could lead to false expectations and they might force their partner to practice sexual acts that might be dangerous. Since adolescent female did not spend most of their time watching pornographic materials, their idea of intimacy is simple.

While sexual behavior is usually implied in media, the idea about sex is still very basic. But with access to “hardcore” pornographic materials, adolescent male may have other ideas and they are usually dangerous for the adolescent female especially on their first experience of physical intimacy.

According to the study, rural male accesses pornographic materials more than their urban counterpart.

While no scientific reason was made to know the exact reason, researchers provided a theory that rural adolescent male access pornographic material more because of their perception that they are far from these actual activities.

Because of the ease of access to the internet, rural adolescent male can easily access pornographic content without being noticed.

This is a big challenge to parents especially for adolescent male. Parents should talk to their kids about these materials that can be easily accessed especially online. These materials can easily give them the wrong idea about sex and physical intimacy.

The same survey made by researchers has also indicated that parents do not talk about their kids about this troubling behavior.

Aside from talking to their kids about the dangers of pornographic materials, parents have to learn how to control or prevent these materials from being accessed. Knowledge of the latest internet screening software should be obtained and constant monitoring on the male adolescent activities especially online should be practiced.