Study: Internet sex can be harmful
UPI Science News
WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) People who spend too much time on Internet sex sites may be at risk for developing psychology problems like sexual compulsiveness.
The study, appearing in the April issue of the journal Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, says people who spend 11 hours or more visiting sexually explicit sites show signs of psychological distress and admit that their behavior interferes with some areas of their lives.
Though people who spend this much time on Internet sex sites are in the minority only 8 percent of Americans who visit these sites researchers found the behavior may indicate other problems in the users' lives or create further dependence on on-line sex.
About 15 percent of the 57 million Americans logging onto the Internet visit sexually oriented sites, most of them without developing any negative impact. Some 92 percent spend less than 11 hours a week at on-line sex sites, and most spend less than one hour a week. But another 8 percent spend more than 11 hours weekly and are at risk, the study finds.
''People just don't realize how important the Internet is to sexuality, '' says Alvin Cooper, co-author of the study and director of the San Jose Marital and Sexuality Centre in San Jose, Calif. ''Internet sex sites are accessible, affordable and anonymous.''
Cooper and his colleagues drew their results from 9,177 valid responses to a 59-item questionnaire posted on the MSNBC Web site. He said the sample is the largest taken to date on Internet sex.
Cooper said many people go to the Internet for sexual information or entertainment. Disenfranchised groups such as the blind, obese or gays go to the Web to express themselves more freely sexually, Cooper says.
Perhaps not surprisingly, men are the largest consumers of sexually explicit material on the Internet. Some 86 percent of respondents were men. Most men went to sites with visuals. Women, however, favored the use of chat rooms to interact with other Web users and develop relationships.
According to the study, most people accessed sexual Web sites from home, although 5.8 percent used an office computer and 12.7 percent accessed such sites both from home and the office.
About 47 percent of people accessing sexual Web sites were married and 17 percent were in a committed relationship. Of the single people, half were dating.
Cooper says time spent on-line for sexual pursuits was a strong predictor of both sexual compulsiveness and distress.
''A big part of overall Internet addiction is probably on-line sex,'' Cooper says. ''Sexually compulsive people can get what they want quickly on the 'Net. The sex has more control over their life than they have over it.''
He added: ''Sex on-line isn't good or bad. It's both. It's what you do with it. There are probably people who otherwise wouldn't be sexually compulsive, but who become so because the Internet is so seductive.''
He said there are some good sides to Internet sex. Some couples use it to strengthen their own relationship, and some people go to the net for sex to avoid getting a disease from a prostitute.
While interjecting a machine into a basically human interaction may seem odd and even anti-social to some people, Cooper said Internet sex will become more realistic over the coming years.
''Within the next three years there will be different types of apparatuses that you can hook up to your body while you're on-line,'' he said.
Copyright 1999 by United Press International.
All rights reserved. By LORI VALIGRA