Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology

First Advisor

Kenneth A. Logan

Second Advisor

Susan L. O’Donnell

Third Advisor

David Kays

Abstract

Pornography is a multidimensional and complex topic that provokes feelings of shame, curiosity, and anxiety. In recent times, pornographic searches on the internet amounted to 25% of total search engine requests (Cooper et al., 2000). In a Canadian study on college students’ problematic pornography use, a higher level of pornography use was associated with negative psychosocial functioning and maladaptive use of cannabis, alcohol, gambling, and video games (Harper & Hodgins, 2016). Many researchers have attempted to mitigate the inconsistent measurement of pornography usage (Mckee et al., 2020; Short et al., 2012). Hatch et al. (2020) addressed these measurement issues and developed a pornography usage measure that focuses on behavior rather than subjective perception. The goal of the current study is to further evaluate the psychometric functioning of the COPS-G in a novel sample of Christian undergraduate students. We hypothesize that the COPS-G will demonstrate: (a) adequate internal consistency; (b) convergent validity; and (c) structural validity. Participants consisted of a convenience sample of undergraduate students from a private, Christian university in the Pacific Northwest. The COPSG subscales in this study demonstrated adequate internal consistency within the whole sample. The COPS-G subscales demonstrated mixed support for convergent validity. For structural validity, the three-factor models performed adequately, with the bifactor model performing the best. The present study adds to the complexity of this research and also provides some directionality for future research in regard to the behavioral elements of pornography use.

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