Suchttherapie 2017; 18(S 01): S1-S72
DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1604510
Symposien – S-03 Internetsucht = Internetsucht? Spezifika und Gemeinsamkeiten verschiedener Formen internetbezogener Störungen
Abstract
Within the Internet pornography-use disorder (IPD) sufferers lose control of their pornography consumption on the Internet and continue this despite the experience of negative consequences. Theoretical models such as the I-PACE model for specific Internet use-disorders (Brand et al., 2016) can be used as an explanatory model for the development and maintenance of an IPD. It is assumed that relatively stable personality traits such as impulsiveness as well as cognitive and emotional factors, for example in a dysfunctional inhibition control or cue reactivity and craving, are essential factors in the disorder etiology and pathogenesis. The present study aims to investigate the moderating effect of inhibition control and craving on the relationship between impulsivity as a personality facet and the symptom severity of an IPD.
Methodology:
Fifty male, heterosexual online pornography users were examined with the experimental paradigm of the stop signal task, which is often used in the addiction context to measure inhibition control. All the participants completed the exercises, which were manipulated both with neutral pictures and with pornographic pictures. Furthermore, the current craving was recorded according to the pornographic task as well as impulsiveness (Barett Impulseiveness Scale -15, Meule et al., 2011) and the symptom severity of an IPD (short Internet addiction test, Laier et al., 2014).
Results:
It was shown that the relationship between impulsiveness and the severity of an IPD was moderated by a lack of inhibition, which was shown in slow Go reaction times, as well as by craving. This moderation effect could only be detected in the stop signal task variant with pornographic images, but not in the neutral variant. Users of pornography with a higher impulsivity as well as a low go-response time or higher craving after the confrontation with pornographic material show a higher symptom severity of an IPD.
Conclusion:
The results presented here suggest that high impulsiveness in interaction with reduced inhibition control and increased craving, particularly in situations where the patient is confronted with pornographic material, could represent essential mechanisms in the disorder etiology and pathogenesis of an IPD. The results support the assumptions of the I-PACE model and link to current findings in the field of Internet gaming disorder.
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