‘Sex in America Online’ Study Offers Glimpse of Actions, Motives of People Seeking Companionship on Internet

If a person’s profile on a dating site is missing a picture, there’s a good chance he or she is married.

That’s just one insight found in “Sex in America Online,” a study by USC sociologist Julie Albright published in the Journal of Sex Research summer edition.

The study is a secondary data analysis from a survey posted at Elle and MSNBC.com in February 2004, in which 15,246 people participated.

The sample size is the largest of its kind looking at sex, Albright said.

Among the findings, married men and women are:

• nearly six times more likely than singles to seek a serious relationship online
• nearly three times as likely as singles to have gone on a date as a result of visiting a sex-related Web site

“What are married people doing? They are trolling the waters to see if they can hook a new partner,” Albright said.

There could be long-term consequences, as “one of the best predictors of leaving your spouse is the availability of attractive others,” Albright said.

Pornography’s availability online is no secret. But it may be a surprise that many men, and women, view erotica, Albright said.

The survey found:

• 75 percent of men and 41 percent of women have intentionally viewed or downloaded porn
• 21 percent of men and 17 percent of women admitted they accessed pornography at work

“People think only men look at porn, but that’s not the case,” Albright said.

Albright said men indicated they were using pornography as an aide, “a virtual Viagra,” but it often resulted in less sex with their partner. It also made men more critical of their partner’s performance and looks.

And in the study, women indicated they noticed the same effects, Albright said. Women said their husbands were more critical of their looks and that performance and sex decreased.

“Porn does not accurately portray a woman’s sexual response, and men seem to be looking for over-the-top reactions,” Albright said. “Viewing this keeps raising the bar of sexuality.”

The sample size contained a mean age of 38. Just over 90 percent of respondents reported they were straight and 60 percent had a college diploma or higher. Men comprised 75 percent of the responses. More than half were married, 15 percent were divorced and 30 percent had never married.

“Given the sheer volume of meeting places online, from social networks like Facebook and MySpace, to chat rooms and dating sites, to the more explicit YouTube-like pornography videos,” Albright concludes, “more research is needed on the sex-seeking behaviors of adults online in order to develop a more detailed and nuanced picture.”

Contact: Eddie North-Hager at (213) 740-9335 or edwardnh@usc.edu