WORCESTER, Mass. - College students, including women, are far more accepting of pornography than their parents are, according to findings reported Thursday by Jeffrey Arnett, editor of the Journal of Adolescent Research.
Though 31 percent of the young women studied said they viewed porn and only 3.2 percent said they did so daily or nearly every day, nearly half said they considered viewing porn acceptable.
The researchers reported that 86 percent of the young men studied said they had viewed porn in the previous year. One in five said they did so daily or nearly every day.
The parents surveyed were much less accepting of porn: 37 percent of the fathers and 20 percent of the mothers considered viewing porn acceptable.
Researchers said young adults' attitudes might be influenced by pornographic images that have proliferated on the Internet in the past 10 years, said Arnett, who will publish the study in January. He said the shift most likely is related to easy access to porn on the Internet and handheld devices.
"We're in an age of pocket porn," said Jason Carroll, author of the study.
Carroll, a social-sciences researcher at Brigham Young University, and his colleagues studied 813 college students from six campuses. The online survey asked students about their views on pornography.
Carroll said the study also linked regular porn use with risky behaviors such as binge drinking and sex with multiple partners.
