The Development of the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale (PPCS)

Created by Beáta Bőthe , István Tóth-Király, and Ágnes Zsila
Doctoral School of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University; and Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University

Mark D. Griffiths Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University

Zsolt Demetrovics Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University

Gábor Orosz Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University; and Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and
Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Abstract

To date, no short scale exists with strong psychometric properties that can assess problematic pornography consumption based on an overarching theoretical background. The goal of the present study was to develop a brief scale, the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale (PPCS), based on Griffiths’s (2005) six-component addiction model that can distinguish between nonproblematic and problematic pornography use. The PPCS was developed using an online sample of 772 respondents (390 females, 382 males; Mage = 22.56,
SD = 4.98 years). Creation of items was based on previous problematic pornography use
instruments and on the definitions of factors in Griffiths’s model.

A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out—because the scale is based on a well-established theoretical model—leading to an 18-item second-order factor structure. The reliability of the PPCS was excellent, and measurement invariance was established. In the current sample, 3.6% of the users belonged to the at-risk group. Based on sensitivity and specificity analyses, we identified an optimal cutoff to distinguish between problematic and non-problematic pornography users.

The PPCS is a multidimensional scale of problematic pornography use with a strong theoretical basis that also has strong psychometric properties in terms of factor structure and reliability.