Parental Competence and Pornography Use among Hispanic Adolescents

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to determine the association between parental competence (warmth, demandingness, and parental education in fortitude and in privacy) and pornography use. Methods: This study presents cross-sectional data from an ongoing international study (YOURLIFE Project) about the opinions and lifestyles of adolescents with respect to affectivity, love, and sexuality. Adolescents (N = 2516) aged 12–15 from Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Spain were included. Multiple logistic regressions were performed to analyze the association between family assets (parental demandingness, warmth, and parental fortitude and privacy education) and pornography use. Results: The results indicated an association between parental warmth and pornography use among boys and girls. Furthermore, privacy education was highly associated with less pornography use only in girls. Parental demandingness and parental fortitude education were not associated with pornography use. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that new educational perspectives including privacy issues should be considered within programs for pornography use prevention among adolescents. Parents should incorporate these variables when discussing pornography with their adolescents and not only focus on filters or demandingness.

Keywords

• adolescents
• pornography
• parental competence
• positive youth development
• lifestyles