A new study has found that daily pornography consumption among young adults leads to statistically significant negative mental health outcomes, including higher rates of reported depression.
The Institute for Family Studies/YouGov survey of 2,000 adults under the age of 40 determined that “pornography has become a daily part of life for many young adults.” About 10% of young adults aged 18–39 report watching pornography online “at least once a day.”
Men “are about twice as likely as women to report being daily users of online pornography,” the study found, while “liberal young adults” were roughly twice as likely as conservatives to report watching online pornography at least once daily.
Daily porn usage was similar for married and unmarried respondents and was roughly consistent across income and education levels, the survey found.
And “frequent use of online pornography is linked to an increased occurrence of negative mental health outcomes among young adults,” the study found, with roughly one-third of daily pornography users reporting feeling “down, depressed, or hopeless” most or all of the time, compared with just 19% of those who rarely or never watch porn.
An even higher number of daily porn users — 36% — report feeling lonely “all or most of the time,” compared with 20% of those who consume porn rarely or never.
These findings remain even after controlling for factors like sex, marital status, and income. Overall, daily porn consumption “doubles the risk of being depressed and increases the risk of feeling lonely by a similar amount,” the research said.
The new findings echo earlier studies that showed a similar link between heavy porn usage and negative mental health outcomes.
The researchers noted that daily porn use also “may displace activities that contribute to healthy social relationships, leaving users feeling more lonely and depressed.”
‘You’re thirsty, but you’re drinking salt water’
Father Sean Kilcawley is the director of the Freedom From Pornography apostolate in the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. He said he has observed in his ministry that frequent pornography, as well as frequent masturbation, “does lead to a kind of depression.”
“Some of the neuroscience research out there would validate that,” he said. “When we talk about living a life of chastity in the Church and purity in the Church, it really comes down to our mental health and our physical health.”
Regarding individuals who suffer from mental health ailments due to pornography consumption, Kilcawley said that such people “aren’t always aware that one is causing the other.”
“For instance, people often say the reason they look at porn is because of loneliness. But then at the same time their reason for loneliness is that they’re looking at pornography,” he said.
“When I’m talking to young people I might use the analogy that it’s like you’re thirsty and you’re drinking salt water,” he said.
Kilcawley said that, as with many addictions, the first step for many people struggling with porn usage is to simply acknowledge they have a problem.
“I might start with just asking them, do you believe you have a problem? Do you want help? Is it bad enough that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get help?” he said.
“Breaking free, from a Christian perspective, is when we have a conversion,” he continued. “And we come to realize that Our Lord can meet all of our needs, and that whatever porn and masturbation is doing for us, Our Lord is the one who is capable of giving us that sense of affirmation and longing, that feeling of being hurt and [yet] being understood.”
“Whatever it is, Our Lord can give it to us,” he said. “And that path to conversion needs accompaniment. We need others to walk with us.”
Those who have finally acknowledged the depth of their problem, Kilcawley said, can pursue help including 12-step addiction programs and individual counselors. Group therapy, he noted, can offer an antidote to loneliness as well as help with addiction and dependency.
The priest stressed the importance of “raising the bottom,” a concept promoted by Alcoholics Anonymous as a means to help more people beat their addictions before they reach a ruinous place.
“When AA started, it was full of people who were in-the-gutter drunks,” he pointed out. “They’d lost jobs, families, horrible things that happened to them, and then they went to the meetings. In the earlier years it was just those kinds of people.”
“And then over time people started talking about how you can get off the train earlier, you don’t have to ride all the way down,” he said. “People started getting help sooner.”
“I think we can do the same thing with those who are addicted to pornography,” he argued. “Before it affects their marriage and their family, and before it escalates to something worse.”
