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June 9, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The use of pornography in marriage can lead to a higher chance of divorce, a new study has found.

Analyzing data from the General Social Survey,  the researchers found that porn users are more open to marital infidelity, the leading cause of divorce in the United States. They  published their findings in the April issue of Psychology of Popular Media Culture.

The General Social Survey asked 551 married couples whether or not they had viewed a pornographic video in the last year.  The couples were then asked about their views on extra-marital relations.  The results showed a connection between the pornography viewers and those with sympathetic attitudes towards marital infidelity.  

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“If pornography consumption leads to more positive extramarital sex attitudes as the results of the panels suggest, pornography consumption may be a contributing factor in some divorces via extramarital sex behavior,” the study states.

Researchers have found an abundance of evidence indicating the detrimental effects of pornography on individuals and society. One study found that viewing pornography leads to a weakened sex drive, while another discovered that porn addiction distorts the brain the same way alcohol and drugs do.  

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Pornography also has devastating effects on families, children, and communities.  Dr. Patrick F. Fagan found that pornography use causes instability, distrust, and betrayal in marriages, severely damaging the bond between the husband and wife. 

“Viewers of pornography assign increased importance to sexual relations without emotional involvement,” says Dr. Fagan.  “The emotional distance fostered by pornography… can often be just as damaging to the relationship as real-life infidelity, and both men and women tend to put online sexual activity in the same category as having an affair.”

Therapist Dr. Jill Manning found that 56 percent of divorces involved a spouse with a pornography obsession. According to Dr. Kevin B. Skinner, writing in a 2011 article for Psychology Today, her finding is a “sobering statistic.”

“Every year for the past decade there have been roughly 1 million divorces in the United States,” he wrote. “If half of the people divorcing claim pornography as the culprit, that means there are 500,000 marriages annually that are failing due to pornography.”