A Timely Exploratory Study of Young Adults’ Psychosexual Responses to the UK’s New Age Verification Law on Online Pornography

Age-verification policies for online pornography aim to protect minors, yet their implications for legal-age young adults remain underexamined. This mixed-methods study examined UK young adults aged 18-25 who reported pornography use in the past year (N = 623, Mage = 21.40, SD = 2.31; 67.3% female). Participants completed measures of pornography use contexts, content preferences, and sexual shame, and answered open-ended questions about the UK age-verification requirements. Descriptive quantitative findings characterized participants' use contexts, preferences, and sexual shame. Qualitative accounts described varied psychological experiences, including shame, anxiety, confidence, calm, and minimal emotional impact. Participants often interpreted age verification as making pornography access feel less anonymous and more identity-linked, raising concerns about surveillance, moral stigma, and data vulnerability. Reported access practices included platform avoidance, alternative online spaces, reduced use, and VPN-based circumvention. The findings highlight the need to consider privacy, stigma, trust, accountability, and access displacement when evaluating age-verification requirements for legal-age users.