Pornography consumption in pre-/early adolescents: a study on the links with emotion regulation and internalizing/externalizing symptoms

The prevalence of adolescents watching pornographic material online is growing in the last years. At the same time the average age of youth showing this behavior is rapidly decreasing. Research in this field has focused on adolescents ranging 11–18 years of age, whereas no attention has been given to younger youths. Using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale and the Teacher’s Report Form, this study aimed at evaluating in male and female 9–10 years old subjects: the frequency of porn watching, emotion regulation, and internalizing/externalizing symptoms, verifying whether higher consumption of porn was associated with more maladaptive psychological functioning. Our results showed that the prevalence and frequency of porn watching was higher in males than in females. Moreover, we found that emotion regulation and internalizing/externalizing problems were associated with higher consumption of pornographic material. This study could shed light on the phenomenon of porn watching in pre/early adolescence, which has not been considered in previous literature.