WASHINGTON – In the latest headline-grabbing study revolving around porn, a research team from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, presented to the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) a study that purports to show how the age of a boy’s first exposure to porn may predict sexist attitudes later in life.

“The goal of our study was to examine how age of first exposure to pornography, and the nature of said first exposure, predicts conformity to two masculine norms: playboy — or sexually promiscuous behavior — and seeking power over women,” said Alyssa Bischmann, a doctoral student from UNL who presented the research.

Setting aside the question of whether it’s proper methodology for a research team to head into a study like this with such a narrow field of assumptions (Is it not possible for a boy to be exposed to porn and subsequently grow up to be neither a “playboy” nor a control freak?), any person vaguely familiar with the complex gumbo of influences and input that shape our individual attitudes and actions might wonder whether porn alone can shape the future of a person’s behavior in such a fundamental way.

For that matter, the researchers who presented the study seem to think its data suggests something less definitive than the headlines being written about it — but we’ll get back to that point later.

For their study, the UNL team surveyed 330 undergraduate men ages 17-54. The subjects were asked about their initial exposure to porn, including how old they were when it took place and whether the exposure was intentional, accidental or forced. The subjects then were asked to respond to 46 questions designed to measure their adherence to the masculine norms at issue.

According to the study, the average age of first exposure to porn was 13.37 years. Among the subject pool, 43.5 percent said their first exposure was accidental, 33.4 percent intentional and 17.2 percent forced. (Six percent of respondents did not indicate the nature of their first exposure.)

“We found that the younger a man was when he first viewed pornography, the more likely he was to want power over women,” Bischmann said. “The older a man was when he first viewed pornography, the more likely he would want to engage in playboy behavior.”

The researchers said their findings were surprising, because they had expected conformity to both norms to be higher with a lower first age of exposure.

“The most interesting finding from this study was that older age at first exposure predicted greater adherence to the playboy masculine norms,” said Chrissy Richardson, the UNL professor who co-wrote the paper with Bischmann. “That finding has sparked many more questions and potential research ideas because it was so unexpected based on what we know about gender role socialization and media exposure.”

Another thing that surprised the researchers: They found “no significant association” between the nature of the first porn exposure (accidental, intentional or forced) and the man’s attitude about women.

“We were surprised that the type of exposure did not affect whether someone wanted power over women or to engage in playboy behaviors,” Bischmann said. “We had expected that intentional, accidental or forced experiences would have differing outcomes.”

Regardless of what the researchers expected to find, from where I sit presenting these results as conclusive concerning the impact of porn exposure on young males is a stretch beyond reason. The researchers acknowledged that … at the end of the press release in which the APA announced the study’s findings.

“Bischmann suspects that the findings may be related to unexamined variables, such as the participants’ religiosity, sexual performance anxiety, negative sexual experiences or whether the first exposure experience was positive or negative,” the APA stated in the release. “More research needs to be done, she said.”

In defense of the media covering this press release, I suppose that paragraph is a bit long for a headline and doesn’t have quite the same panache as “Boys who first watch porn as teenagers ‘become playboys’ — but any younger and they ‘grow up sexist’.”

Still, even without knowing the role played by religiosity, negative sexual experiences and a host of other possible contributing factors, Richardson said she believes the study has provided compelling evidence “pornography viewing has a real impact on heterosexual men, especially with regard to their views about sex roles,” as the press release put it.

“Knowing more about the relationship between men’s pornography use and beliefs about women might assist sexual assault prevention efforts, especially among young boys who may have been exposed to pornography at an early age,” is how the press release paraphrases Richardson’s view. “This information could also inform the treatment of various emotional and social issues experienced by young heterosexual men who view pornography.”

Or maybe the data garnered through further study will “surprise” the researchers once again.