Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the different categories of males within two groups, namely a community male sample who engaged in online sexual activities (OSAs) and a subclinical male sample who were out of control in viewing pornography and had sought help. Additionally, the study aimed to determine the threshold for excessive OSAs in both samples.
Methods: A total of 568 community adult males who engaged in OSAs and 567 adult males seeking help for pornography use were recruited online. A latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to identify potential profiles within the samples. Cut-point analyses were conducted to determine optimal cutoff scores for OSAs in each sample.
Results: The LPA revealed two categories with different cutoff scores for OSAs within each sample. Excessive OSA can be a screening tool for detecting out-of-control behavior. More stringent criteria for identifying excessive OSAs can aid in distinguishing problematic pornography use (PPU) from impaired control in viewing sexually-explicit materials (SEMs). Two subcategories of loss of control emerged: high OSAs frequency impaired control and high viewing SEMs impaired control.
Conclusion: The threholds of excessive OSAs varies among community and sub-clinical male samples; this knowledge can assist in screening out individuals with impaired control and selecting individuals with PPU from the subclinical sample.
Keywords: Latent profile analysis; Online sexual activities; Optimal cutoff value; Problematic pornography use.