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The Moderating Role of Regular Exercise on the Relationship Between Basic Psychological Need Frustration and
Ying Zhang1, Xiaoliu Jiang2, Yuexin Jin3
1Department of Physical Education, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China.
Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy
|August 4, 2025
Summary
Self-Determination Theory explains pornography use for coping. Regular exercise may reduce negative impacts by weakening the link between psychological need frustration and coping motivations for pornography use.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Behavioral Science
- Health Science
Background:
- Self-Determination Theory (SDT) posits that unmet basic psychological needs can lead to maladaptive behaviors.
- Pornography use, particularly for coping with negative emotions, is a growing concern.
- The potential moderating role of physical exercise in this context remains under-explored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the mediating role of coping motivations in the relationship between basic psychological need frustration and problematic pornography use.
- To examine whether regular physical exercise moderates these associations.
- To clarify specific pathways using network analysis.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study involving 600 Chinese adult pornography users (mean age = 32.31, 39.83% women).
- Statistical analyses including mediation and moderation models.
- Network analysis to explore specific pathways.
Main Results:
- Coping motivations significantly mediated the link between basic psychological need frustration and problematic pornography use.
- Regular physical exercise moderated these pathways, weakening the path from need frustration to coping motivations.
- Exercise strengthened the path from coping motivations to problematic pornography use, suggesting a complex protective effect.
Conclusions:
- Basic psychological need frustration, via coping motivations, is linked to problematic pornography use.
- Regular exercise may offer a protective effect by mitigating the influence of need frustration on using pornography for coping.
- Further research is needed to establish causality due to the cross-sectional design.
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