Reason for the use of cybersex and its relationship with the degree of severity

Abstract

The practice of cybersex is a frequent behavior that can lead to a pattern of compulsive and uncontrolled consumption together with a functional impairment in various areas (addiction to cybersex). Therefore, knowing the reasons that explain this behavior (both recreationally and pathologically) is a priority. The aim of this work was to analyze the prevalence of different reasons for cybersex consumption, their differences according to gender and to explore the link between these motives and the symptoms of problematic use. Evaluating a sample of 400 young people (50% men) between 18-30 years old (M=22.2), it is found that the most frequent motives for using the Internet for sexual purposes are “finding material with which to masturbate” (70.8% ) and “relax from the stress of my obligations” (44%). Depending on the gender, we observe moderate to large differences (V≥.10) in 6 out of the 8 motivations explored. Finally, some of these motives predict 15% of the variance of the weekly time spent on cybersex consumption and 32% of the scores on a severity scale.

Keywords

• cibersexo
• motivos
• severidad
• jóvenes