By LORI VALIGRA
WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) A San
Jose-based study shows that people who spend
too much time on Internet sex sites may be at risk
for developing psychology problems like sexual
compulsiveness.
The study, appearing in the April issue of the
journal Professional Psychology: Research and
Practice, says people who spend 11 hours or more
visiting sexually explicit sites show signs of
psychological distress and admit that their
behavior interferes with some areas of their lives.
Though people who spend this much time on
Internet sex sites are in the minority only 8 percent
of Americans who visit these sites _ researchers
found the behavior may indicate other problems in
the users' lives or create further dependence on
on-line sex.
About 15 percent of the 57 million Americans
logging onto the Internet visit sexually oriented
sites, most of them without developing any
negative impact. Some 92 percent spend less than
11 hours a week at on-line sex sites, and most
spend less than one hour a week. But another 8
percent spend more than 11 hours weekly and are
at risk, the study finds.
"People just don't realize how important the
Internet is to sexuality," says Alvin Cooper,
co-author of the study and director of the San Jose
Marital and Sexuality Centre in San Jose, Calif.
"Internet sex sites are accessible, affordable and
anonymous."
Cooper and his colleagues drew their results from
9,177 valid responses to a 59-item questionnaire
posted on the MSNBC Web site. He said the
sample is the largest taken to date on Internet sex.
Cooper said many people go to the Internet for
sexual information or entertainment.
Disenfranchised groups such as the blind, obese
or gays go to the Web to express themselves more
freely sexually, Cooper says.
Perhaps not surprisingly, men are the largest
consumers of sexually explicit material on the
Internet. Some 86 percent of respondents were
men. Most men went to sites with visuals. Women,
however, favored the use of chat rooms to interact
with other Web users and develop relationships.
According to the study, most people accessed
sexual Web sites from home, although 5.8 percent
used an office computer and 12.7 percent
accessed such sites both from home and the office.
About 47 percent of people accessing sexual Web
sites were married and 17 percent were in a
committed relationship. Of the single people, half
were dating.
Cooper says time spent on-line for sexual pursuits
was a strong predictor of both sexual
compulsiveness and distress.
"A big part of overall Internet addiction is
probably on-line sex," Cooper says. "Sexually
compulsive people can get what they want quickly
on the 'Net. The sex has more control over their
life than they have over it."
He added: "Sex on-line isn't good or bad. It's both.
It's what you do with it. There are probably
people who otherwise wouldn't be sexually
compulsive, but who become so because the
Internet is so seductive."
He said there are some good sides to Internet sex.
Some couples use it to strengthen their own
relationship, and some people go to the net for sex
to avoid getting a disease from a prostitute.
While interjecting a machine into a basically
human interaction may seem odd and even
anti-social to some people, Cooper said Internet
sex will become more realistic over the coming
years.
"Within the next three years there will be different
types of apparatuses that you can hook up to your
body while you're on-line," he said.