SelfhelpMagazine

by Alvin Cooper, Ph. D., Coralie R. Scherer, Ph.D.,
Sylvain C. Boies, Ph.D. & Barry L. Gordon, Ph.D.

While approximately 15 percent of the 57 million Americans logging onto the Internet engage in cybersex oriented sites without any negative impact, these sites do pose risks for some people.

Those individuals who spend large amounts of time on the Net in sexual pursuits may be at risk for developing psychological difficulties such as sexual compulsivity.

The study found that those who spend 11 hours or more time online in sexual pursuits show signs of psychological distress and admit that their behavior interferes with some areas of their lives.

Time spent on line for sexual pursuits may be an indicator of other problems that exist in users' lives, or may even create further dependence, according to the study's authors.

The study, a 59-item questionnaire, was conducted over a 7-week period during March and April of last year. The questionnaire was posted on the MSNBC Web site and was completed by 13,529 individuals.

After discarding surveys which were incomplete or filled out by people under 18 years of age, a final sample of 9,177 anonymous respondents was evaluated.

According to the study, men are the largest consumers of sexually explicit material on the Internet. Male respondents (86%) outnumbered female respondents (14%) by a ratio of 6:1. Women, however, favor the use of chat rooms, which offer more interaction and the development of relationships to visual erotica.

Most individuals (78.8%) reported that they go online for sexual pursuits from home, 5.8 percent admitted using an office computer and 12.7 percent said they do both. In addition, most individuals (64%) were either married (47%) or in a committed relationship (17%) and among the single individuals (36%), half were dating and half were not.

"This study provides the first step in understanding the common use of the Internet and can help mental health professionals to develop guidelines to prevent, diagnose, intervene and treat sexual compulsivity and related disorders," according to its lead author, Dr. Alvin Cooper of the San Jose Marital and Sexuality Centre.

"In addition it may be useful in the identification of other issues that may be going on in users' lives for which they wish to escape by turning to their keyboards."

Article:

"Sexuality on the Internet: From Sexual Exploration to the Pathological Expression,"Alvin Cooper, Ph. D., Coralie R. Scherer, Ph.D., Sylvain C. Boies, Ph.D. & Barry L. Gordon, Ph.D., Professional Psychology, Vol. 30, No. 2.

This information received from the American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC.