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Pornography Use Habits of Sexually and Non-Sexually Delinquent Youth

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Abstract

Adolescents with problematic sexualized behaviors have been found to disclose more frequent and earlier exposures to pornography compared to non-sexually delinquent youth. There is a gap in the literature regarding specific pornography use habits that may differentiate youth who sexually and non-sexually offend, and little is known about how pornography use relates to delinquent behavior among youth who have sexually offended. The current study explored the pornography use habits, offending behaviors, and recidivism risk of 200 adjudicated youth in a Western state. Regression analyses revealed differences between groups in content selected, beliefs, and use habits. Youth who engaged in sexual offending had more unrealistic beliefs reflected in their pornography use. While only frequency of viewing was related to sexual recidivism risk, there was a relationship between viewing forceful or violent pornography and the diversified offending portfolios of youth who sexually offend. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

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Data Availability

Data are not publicly available to protect the information of vulnerable participants.

Code Availability

No specialized or custom code was used for analyses. Analyses were completed using SPSS v.28.

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Acknowledgements

The authors take responsibility for the integrity of the data, the accuracy of the data analyses, and has made every effort to avoid inflating statistically significant results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Social Work, University of Kentucky, College of Social Work, 1829 Patterson Office Tower, Lexington, KY, 40508, USA

    Rebecca Logue Bosetti

  2. School of Social Work, Colorado State University, School of Social Work, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Jamie Rae Yoder

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  1. Rebecca Logue Bosetti
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  2. Jamie Rae Yoder
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Contributions

Both authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by Rebecca L. Bosetti and Jamie R. Yoder, and analyses were performed by Rebecca L. Bosetti. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Rebecca L. Bosetti and Jamie R. Yoder, and all authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Rebecca Logue Bosetti.

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Research Involving Human Participants

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (Ohio State University Behavioral and Social Sciences), the Western state’s Department of Youth Services and Sex Offender Management Board, and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Bosetti, R.L., Yoder, J.R. Pornography Use Habits of Sexually and Non-Sexually Delinquent Youth. Arch Sex Behav 55, 459–474 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-025-03296-y

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