Henry, Nathan INPedersen, MangorWilliams, MattDonkin, Liesje2025-12-102025-12-102025-11-21Archives of Sexual Behavior, ISSN: 0004-0002 (Print); 1573-2800 (Online), Springer, 54(9), 3313-3334. doi: 10.1007/s10508-025-03287-z0004-00021573-2800http://hdl.handle.net/10292/20385The causal relationships between pornography use, masturbation, moral incongruence, and mental health are poorly understood. While the link between problematic pornography use (PPU) and depression is well documented, the temporal dynamics associated with pornography use and masturbation have not yet been quantified. Utilizing an exploratory ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design, we measured the temporal dynamics of cognitive and affective state variables collected from 22 participants before, during, and after pornography use and masturbation, and examined the moderating role of moral incongruence in these relationships. Participants completed an initial survey followed by a four-week EMA, capturing data on sexual activities and cognitive and affective state variables. Bayesian hierarchical mixed-effects models were employed to analyze temporal dynamics. Findings suggest that pornography use and masturbation were linked to changes in affective and cognitive states that spiked both before and after sexual episodes. These states were generally more pronounced and sustained in participants with high moral incongruence, who experienced transient increases in shame, guilt, difficulty thinking, relationship disconnectedness, craving for sexual intercourse, and mood deterioration after pornography use and masturbation. These shifts typically persisted for several hours before decaying to baseline levels. High-incongruence participants also experienced strong spikes in craving prior to sexual episodes, while low-incongruence participants experienced craving spikes after pornography use and masturbation, indicating possible sensitization effects. Our findings also signalled potential evidence for "brain fog" following pornography use in both low and high-incongruence participants. Further, we discovered opponent process dynamics in the mood of high-incongruence participants, providing a possible causal mechanism that may explain how PPU can lead to depression.Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/DepressionEcological Momentary AssessmentOpponent processPornographyProblematic pornography use52 Psychology5203 Clinical and Health Psychology44 Human SocietyClinical ResearchMental HealthBasic Behavioral and Social ScienceMental IllnessBehavioral and Social ScienceBrain Disorders3 Good Health and Well Being1117 Public Health and Health Services1701 PsychologyClinical Psychology4405 Gender studies5203 Clinical and health psychology5205 Social and personality psychologyHumansEroticaEcological Momentary AssessmentFemaleMasturbationAdultMaleYoung AdultAffectMoralsSexual BehaviorBayes TheoremHumansBayes TheoremSexual BehaviorMasturbationAffectMoralsEroticaAdultFemaleMaleYoung AdultEcological Momentary AssessmentJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1007/s10508-025-03287-z