A rather unexpected correlation was found between addiction to pornographic videos and the level of religiosity. With an increase in the frequency of viewing pornography, the level of religiosity first drops, but then rises again.
"Research has consistently shown a negative relationship between religiosity and pornography viewing," wrote University of Oklahoma professor Sam Perry. "It is generally accepted that more religiosity leads to less pornography viewing, but so far no one has checked whether frequent viewing leads to a decrease in the level of religiosity over time." A report of Sam Perry's work is published in the Journal of Sex Research.
To test this hypothesis, the scientist turned to data from the Portraits of American Life Study (PALS), an extensive longitudinal socio-psychological study of US residents. He noted that people who watched pornographic photographs, videos and films subsequently reported greater doubts about religious issues, showed less religiosity and prayed less often than those who reported not watching pornography at all. However, this relationship turned out to be far from unambiguous.
Indeed, the decline in religiosity in Perry's study was consistently observed in people who did not use pornography very often - up to once a week. However, as the frequency of views increased - up to “daily or several times a day” - the curve reversed, and such pornography lovers, on the contrary, attended religious ceremonies more often and prayed more often. According to the scientist, this effect was independent of gender.
"These data suggest that pornography viewing can lead to a decrease in some aspects of religiosity," Professor Perry cautiously sums up. "However, with high activity, it can, on the contrary, enhance certain aspects of religiosity, or at least lead to such an increase."