Sextech Use as a Potential Mental Health Reprieve: The Role of Anxiety, Depression, and Loneliness in Seeking Sex Online
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- RQ1. Are higher levels of loneliness, anxiety, and/or depression associated with sextech engagement?
- RQ2. Do anxiety and depression mediate the association between loneliness and sextech engagement?
- RQ3. How do gender and sexual orientation moderate each of the aforementioned associations in RQ1 and RQ2?
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Procedure
2.2. Ethical Considerations
2.3. Participants
2.4. Measures
2.4.1. Sociodemographics
2.4.2. Mental Health
2.4.3. Sexual Desire
2.4.4. Types of Sextech
3. Data Analysis
4. Results
4.1. Descriptive Statistics: Frequency of Sextech Use
4.2. Moderated Mediation
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Have Used Sextech (n = 5192) | Have Not Used Sextech (n = 2812) | Total Sample (n = 8004) | |
---|---|---|---|
Age (Years) | |||
Mean (SD) | 41.05 (12.5) | 49.68 (11.9) | 44.08 (13.0) |
Gender identity n (%) | |||
Male | 3035 (58.5%) | 792 (28.2%) | 3827 (47.8%) |
Female | 2084 (40.1%) | 2013 (71.6%) | 4097 (51.2%) |
Non-binary | 60 (1.2%) | 3 (0.1%) | 63 (0.8%) |
Agender | 6 (0.1%) | 3 (0.1%) | 9 (0.1%) |
Another Identity | 6 (0.1%) | 1 (0.0%) | 7 (0.1%) |
Don’t Know | 1 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 1 (0.0%) |
Sexual orientation n (%) | |||
Heterosexual | 4180 (80.5%) | 2675 (95.1%) | 6855 (85.6%) |
Homosexual/Gay/Lesbian | 432 (8.3%) | 90 (3.2%) | 522 (6.5%) |
Bisexual | 506 (9.7%) | 33 (1.2%) | 539 (6.7%) |
Other | 74 (1.4%) | 14 (0.5%) | 88 (1.1%) |
Race/Ethnicity n (%) | |||
White | 3195 (61.5%) | 1915 (68.1%) | 5110 (63.8%) |
Black/African American | 748 (14.4%) | 319 (11.3%) | 1067 (13.3%) |
South Asian | 92 (1.8%) | 26 (0.9%) | 118 (1.5%) |
East Asian | 258 (5.0%) | 139 (4.9%) | 397 (5.0%) |
North American Indian or Alaskan Native or Pacific Islander | 63 (1.2%) | 39 (1.4%) | 102 (1.3%) |
Hispanic or Latino | 726 (14.0%) | 296 (10.5%) | 1022 (12.8%) |
Other | 110 (2.1%) | 78 (2.8%) | 188 (2.3%) |
Current relationship status n (%) | |||
Single and not seeing anyone | 1479 (28.5%) | 814 (28.9%) | 2293 (28.6%) |
Casually dating one or more people | 528 (10.2%) | 66 (2.3%) | 594 (7.4%) |
In a committed relationship | 796 (15.3%) | 258 (9.2%) | 1054 (13.2%) |
Engaged | 119 (2.3%) | 32 (1.1%) | 151 (1.9%) |
Married | 2270 (43.7%) | 1642 (58.4%) | 3912 (48.9%) |
Have Used Sextech (n = 5192) | Have Not Used Sextech (n = 2812) | Total Sample (n = 8004) | |
---|---|---|---|
Gender identity and Sexual orientation N (%) | |||
Heterosexual Male | 2527 (48.7%) | 763 (27.1%) | 3290 (41.1%) |
Heterosexual Female | 1650 (31.8%) | 1910 (67.9%) | 3536 (44.5%) |
Homosexual Male | 239 (4.6%) | 11 (0.4%) | 250 (3.1%) |
Homosexual Female | 171 (3.3%) | 79 (2.8%) | 250 (3.1%) |
Variable | M1 | SD2 | Minimum | Maximum | α | Frequency (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loneliness 3 | 2.50 | 0.86 | 1 | 5 | 0.87 | |
Depression 4 | 0.70 | 0.71 | 0 | 3 | 0.91 | |
Anxiety | 2.10 | 1.05 | 1 | 5 | 0.92 | |
Sextech use 5 | 1.03 | 1.82 | 1 | 7 | 0.91 | |
Sexual desire 6 | 4.51 | 1.54 | 1 | 7 | ||
Sending sexually explicit images or videos 7 | 1.52 | 0.94 | 1 | 5 | 2368 (29.6%) 8 | |
Visiting a camming site | 1.36 | 0.87 | 1 | 5 | 1481 (18.5%) | |
Participating in a live camming stream | 1.23 | 0.71 | 1 | 5 | 930 (11.6%) | |
Coordinated teledildonic accessory usage | 1.20 | 0.68 | 1 | 5 | 756 (9.4%) | |
Accessing virtual reality (VR) pornography | 1.21 | 0.70 | 1 | 5 | 875 (10.9%) | |
Playing sexually-explicit role-playing games (RPG) | 1.26 | 0.75 | 1 | 5 | 1108 (13.8%) | |
Exchanging sexually explicit messages with a chatbot/AI | 1.18 | 0.64 | 1 | 5 | 704 (8.8%) |
Coefficient | SE | t | p | 95% CI | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
IV to mediators (a paths): | |||||
Depression (a1) | 0.50 | 0.01 | 67.54 | <0.001 | 0.49, 0.52 |
Anxiety (a2) | 0.73 | 0.01 | 64.54 | <0.001 | 0.70, 0.75 |
Mediators to DV (b paths): | |||||
Depression (b1) | 0.27 | 0.06 | 4.37 | <0.001 | 0.15, 0.39 |
Anxiety (b2) | 0.03 | 0.04 | 0.77 | 0.44 | −0.05, 0.11 |
IV to DV (c′ path): | |||||
Loneliness (c1′) | −0.02 | 0.04 | −0.60 | 0.55 | −0.10, 0.05 |
Moderators to DV (c′ paths): | |||||
Sexual Orientation (c2′) | 0.47 | 0.06 | 8.09 | <0.001 | 0.36, 0.58 |
Gender (c3′) | 0.81 | 0.04 | 20.86 | <0.001 | 0.73, 0.88 |
Interactions: | |||||
Depression (M1) × Sexual orientation (V) (b2i) | −0.11 | 0.11 | −0.95 | 0.34 | −0.33, 0.12 |
Anxiety (M2) × Sexual orientation (V) (b2i) | 0.17 | 0.08 | 2.22 | 0.03 | 0.02, 0.32 |
Depression (M1) × Gender (Q) (b3i) | 0.34 | 0.08 | 4.09 | <0.001 | 0.18, 0.50 |
Anxiety (M2) × Gender (Q) (b3i) | 0.28 | 0.05 | 5.17 | <0.001 | 0.17, 0.39 |
Loneliness (IV) × Sexual orientation (V) (c4′) | −0.25 | 0.08 | −3.07 | <0.001 | −0.41, −0.09 |
Loneliness (IV) × Gender (Q) (c5′) | −0.15 | 0.06 | −2.70 | 0.01 | −0.26, −0.04 |
Control Variables: | |||||
Sexual Desire | 0.12 | 0.01 | 9.25 | <0.001 | 0.09, 0.14 |
Relationship Status | 0.00 | 0.04 | 0.01 | 0.99 | −0.08, 0.08 |
Age | −0.03 | 0.00 | −19.00 | <0.001 | −0.03, −0.02 |
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Marcotte, A.S.; Kaufman, E.M.; Campbell, J.T.; Reynolds, T.A.; Garcia, J.R.; Gesselman, A.N. Sextech Use as a Potential Mental Health Reprieve: The Role of Anxiety, Depression, and Loneliness in Seeking Sex Online. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 8924. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18178924
Marcotte AS, Kaufman EM, Campbell JT, Reynolds TA, Garcia JR, Gesselman AN. Sextech Use as a Potential Mental Health Reprieve: The Role of Anxiety, Depression, and Loneliness in Seeking Sex Online. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(17):8924. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18178924
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarcotte, Alexandra S., Ellen M. Kaufman, Jessica T. Campbell, Tania A. Reynolds, Justin R. Garcia, and Amanda N. Gesselman. 2021. "Sextech Use as a Potential Mental Health Reprieve: The Role of Anxiety, Depression, and Loneliness in Seeking Sex Online" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 17: 8924. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18178924