Pornography and Sociosexual Attitudes and Behaviors in a Nationally Representative Survey: Potential Pandemic and...

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The General Social Survey (GSS) switched from an in-person interview to a self-administered online survey for its most recent data collection. This modality switch makes it possible to compare sociosexual data gathered using the GSS's last in-person survey (2018) to its first-ever self-administered online survey (2021), an oft suggested format for reducing social desirability bias. This study compared sociosexual data collected in the 2018 GSS to the 2021 GSS, with a primary focus on pornography use. Results suggested that among men neither the direction nor the magnitude of the association between pornography use and more nontraditional sociosexual attitudes and behaviors are affected by whether surveys are conducted in-person or online; that among women the magnitude of the positive association between pornography use and certain nontraditional sexual behaviors could be attenuated by in-person interviews; a pandemic period increase in pornography use among both men and women; a pandemic period decrease in men's nonrelational sexual behavior; and that men's and women's reporting of certain nontraditional sexual attitudes may be reduced by in-person interviews. It is important to emphasize that alternative explanations for 2018-2021 change are possible. The goal of the present study was to promote interpretive dialogue rather than definitive answers.