Women's attachment anxiety and body image self-consciousness: the mediating role of pornography use

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106916

Commentary

This study examined the mediating role of attachment anxiety, body image self-consciousness, and related pornography use in a large sample of women.

The researchers hypothesized that pornography use would mediate the relationship between insecure attachment orientation and body image self-consciousness.

Employing a convenience sample of 1001 Israeli women who had completed measures assessing attachment orientation, body self-consciousness, and frequency of pornography use, structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation was used to examine direct pathways between attachment and body image self-consciousness, and indirect or mediated pathways by pornography use.

As a result, they found a direct effect of insecure and avoidant attachment. This is about a woman's self-consciousness of her body image, independent of the state of the relationship. In the researchers' conclusion, the results suggest that women may be more susceptible to the effects of pornography use on their body image self-consciousness if they are attached to a romantic partner.