Compulsive Pornography Behaviour and Religiosity of Malaysian Teenagers in Juvenile Rehabilitation Institution

Abstract

In this post-pandemic era, teenagers have access to the internet at a very young age and are easily exposed to explicit materials. Excessive consumption of pornography can lead to compulsive pornography behaviour (CPB), a subtype of compulsive sexual behaviour (CSB) which has been added to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (11th ed.), ICD 11 by the World Health Organisation (WHO). CPB have many damaging effects especially to teenagers including increased risky behaviour, depressive symptoms and interpersonal relationship problems. There are multiple factors that cause teenagers to engage in pornography behaviour and the measures to curb this phenomenon currently is ineffective. Past researchers suggest that comprehensive sexual education including religiosity may help prevent teenagers from engaging in the behaviour. Therefore, this study aim to investigate the relationship between CPB and religiosity in teenagers. This study is a qualitative research design to describe the relationship between religiosity and the CPB of teenagers in a juvenile rehabilitation education institution. Semi-structured interviews were done on 10 teenagers with CPB and 3 professionals with experience handling them. Interview participants was recruited from recommendations of the professionals. The data was analysed thematically. The themes that emerged from interviews for the influence of religiosity towards pornography behaviour are ‘irrelevant’, ‘discomfort’, ‘knows sinful but no effects’ and ‘easier rehabilitation’. Meanwhile, themes that emerged for the influence of pornography behaviour towards religiosity are ‘no consequences’, ‘reduced worship’ and ‘reduced faith’. The findings in this study shows that there are little direct relationship between religiosity and CPB for teenagers in juvenile rehabilitation institution. This means that religion may not be the most effective preventive factor against CPB. However, the personality development and social activities aspect from religion may help with prevention and intervention measures. Although this research is not generalizable to the entire teenage population in Malaysia, the insights from the findings of this research could potentially generate more research in this field in the future and serve as a guide for preventive and intervention programmes by stakeholders