Gender differences in pornography use and associated factors among high school students: Across sectional study

Background and aimThe pornography consuming is increasing through the availability of the internet worldwide and the availability of the pornographic sites without any restriction, pornographic sites have many complications in the consumer and lacking survey in our country which make sense to conduct this study. This study aimed to measure the prevalence of pornography watching among high school students and factors associated with pornography viewing. Materials and MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted at Zakho independent administration, Kurdistan Region, Iraq among 5 different high school students and 2 institutions. This survey was conducted using a paper questionnaire administered to the participants between April and July 2022. Chi-square analysis was performed to identify possible risk factors for viewing porn and results were expressed as a p value ResultsTotal number of the participants included in this study was 921 with an average age {+/-} standard deviation (SD) of 16.78 years {+/-}1.26. More than half of participants was male (54.83%), viewed pornography alone (49.08%) and about 69.71% disagree on watching porn. There were statistically significant differences (p <0.001) in the attitude and practice of men compared with women throughout all tested variables. About 50.71% of the participants were viewed pornography at least once in a lifetime, among those 65.1% are male and 34.9% of them are female and 92.55% of participants agree to close pornography sites ConclusionThe prevalence of pornography among high school students is high. Young age, and male gender are predictors for higher pornography viewing and should be considered when designing public health intervention in a related context. Longitudinal studies for investigating pornography consumption among different educational levels are needed to assess the causal relationship between pornography consumption and associated factors.