Interparental relationships, attachment orientations, and Arab adolescents' consumption of sexually explicit materials

Objective: This study examined personal and familial characteristics that may predict adolescent consumption of sexually explicit material (CSEM) in a conservative culture. Background: Adolescent sexual development can be influenced by various personal and familial characteristics, and media exposure. Although conservative cultures often discourage discussions about sexuality, avoiding online sexual content is challenging. Method: Four hundred sixty-two Arab adolescents in Israel (59.31% female, M_age = 14.98 years, SD = 1.63) completed questionnaires regarding interparental relationships, attachment orientations, and CSEM. Results: Findings revealed positive associations between attachment anxiety toward both parents, attachment avoidance toward mothers, interparental conflict, and CSEM. Attachment avoidance toward fathers and interparental intimacy had no significant association with CSEM. Attachment insecurity mediated the association between conflictual interparental relationship and CSEM. Conclusion: Insecure attachment and conflictual interparental relationships might increase adolescents' CSEM as a means of addressing distress. Conflictual interparental relationships might spillover to family relationships, increasing insecure attachment, which might increase the frequency of adolescents' CSEM. Implications: Interventions for Arab adolescents could focus on coping strategies in times of distress to mitigate reliance on maladaptive behaviors such as CSEM. Family-based interventions addressing more open communication could be beneficial. Programs should be culturally tailored to suit the particular characteristics of Arab society.