Pornography use and determinant factors and associated psychological distress among undergraduate students at the University of Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia 2023: A mixed approach

Abstract

Background - Pornography is the representation of sexual behavior in literature, art, sculptures, movies, and other media to arouse sexual desire. Worldwide up to 65 percent of young adult men report watching pornographic content at least once a week. Repeated exposure to pornography is growing attention as a public health problem. Psychiatric comorbidities like depression, anxiety, poorer quality of life, lower health status, addiction, premarital sex, more days that were diminished due to mental and physical health, and even sexual dysfunction have reportedly been linked to excessive pornography consumption Objective - To assess the magnitude of pornography use and determinant factors and associated psychological distress among undergraduate students at the University of Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia, 2023. Methodology - This study employed a convergent parallel mixed-methods research approach. For the quantitative a stratified random sampling technique and for qualitative purposive sampling was used to select study participants. Quantitative data was collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire. A total of 821 students participates in the quantitative study. An in-depth interview with a guiding question was employed for the qualitative data. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the association. The audio-taped qualitative data were transcribed into the English language. Then, codes were identified to come up with some categories, Finally, a thematic analysis was done. Result – The magnitude of lifetime exposure to pornography was found to be 55% and using a tool pornography use in the past 12 months were 8.16%. Being male [𝛽 = 0.19 𝐶𝐼: (0.07, 0.315)], those who had peer pressure [𝛽 = 0.29 𝐶𝐼: (0.136, 0.455)], and Substance users [𝛽 = 0.25 𝐶𝐼: (0.14, 0.35)] were some of the factors significantly associated with pornography use. There was also a positive direct relationship between pornography use and psychological distress and a positive indirect effect through self-perceived problematic pornography use. Conclusion and recommendation- Around half of the respondents were exposed to pornography in their lifetime which makes them prone to psychological distress. Creating awareness about the effect of frequent pornography use on psychological distress is needed. And for those who had self-perceived problematic use therapy was needed