The Present Study
PPU, multiple behaviors, withdrawal syndrome
SYNDROMES
To address the aforementioned gaps in the literature, the present study used a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to examine effects of a 7-day experimentally manipulated pornography abstinence period on withdrawal-related symptoms among regular pornography users. A 7-day abstinence period was chosen on the basis that the onset and peak of most substance withdrawal syndromes typically occur within the first 7 days of abstinence (Budney et al., Three potential manifestations of withdrawal-related symptoms were examined in the present study. First, craving for pornography was examined in light of findings from a recent systematic review that craving was the most common abstinence effect across multiple behaviors including gambling, gaming, mobile phone use and social media use (Fernandez et al., A non-clinical sample of regular pornography users was used instead of a clinical sample (e.g., treatment-seeking individuals) because withdrawal-like symptoms have been shown to manifest during abstinence from other behaviors (i.e., exercise, social media use, mobile phone use and gaming) even for regular users who have no apparent indication of problematic use (Fernandez et al., Taken together, the present study sought to answer the following two broad research questions: (1) Do negative abstinence effects (potentially indicative of withdrawal-related symptoms) manifest when regular pornography users try to abstain from pornography for a 7-day period? and (2) Do these negative abstinence effects only manifest (or manifest more strongly) for those with higher levels of PPU? If a pornography withdrawal syndrome were assumed to exist, the following hypotheses would be expected to be supported: