The Impact of Childhood Trauma on Problematic Internet Pornography Use and the Mediating Role of Psychological Mechanisms

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between childhood trauma and problematic pornography use (PPU), with a focus on the mediating roles of attachment styles, coping mechanisms, and metacognitive beliefs. Of the 300 participants who responded to an online survey, 137 met inclusion criteria and were retained for analysis. All participants completed self-report measures of pornography consumption, attachment, coping, and metacognitive beliefs. However, only 10 participants fully completed the Childhood Traumatic Events Scale (CTES), which limited the statistical power of trauma-related analyses. Despite this small subsample, regression analysis unexpectedly revealed a significant inverse relationship between childhood trauma severity and problematic pornography use, suggesting that higher trauma exposure was associated with lower compulsive consumption. Mediation analysis indicated no indirect effects of attachment insecurity, coping strategies, or metacognitive beliefs, highlighting the possibility that unmeasured factors—such as distress tolerance or moral incongruence—may be more critical in explaining trauma-related variations in pornography use. While these findings challenge self-medication theories linking higher trauma to increased addictive behaviors, the limited sample size for trauma data underscores the need for cautious interpretation and further research with larger, more representative samples.