Conclusions

Despite common public concerns that surround adolescent use of sexual media [66], the results of this first longitudinal assessment of the relationship between pornography use and adolescents’ subjective well-being provide no evidence that pornography use contributes to decreased subjective well-being in adolescent men. We found, however, limited evidence of the contradictory contribution of pornography use to female adolescents’ dysregulated mood and self-evaluation. Future research in this area should use large-scale prospective designs, which would include different developmental stages, to clarify possible effects in adolescent women. Given the public concern surrounding pornography use among adolescents, the veracity of these findings will likely be challenged. Thus, replication of our findings with diverse adolescent samples from other cultural settings is highly warranted.