Problematic Pornography Use Profiles and Their Interpersonal and Behavioral Correlates: An Exploratory CTree Analysis Among Korean Men

Problematic pornography use (PPU) may vary in severity and may be associated with interpersonal functioning and self-evaluation, but person-centered symptom patterns and conditional combinations of interpersonal, self-esteem, and behavioral correlates remain unclear. This study examined latent profiles of PPU symptoms and explored variables differentiating profile membership among 433 Korean adult men who reported pornography viewing. Latent profile analysis compared one- through five-profile solutions based on 12 Problematic Pornography Use Scale items. A conditional inference tree (CTree) was then estimated using mean scores for eight interpersonal-problem dimensions, global self-esteem, pornography-viewing frequency, masturbation frequency, sexual-intercourse frequency, and number of sexual partners. A three-profile solution was retained, comprising low (42.0%), moderate (40.6%), and relatively elevated (17.3%) PPU symptom profiles. The profiles were broadly parallel, indicating mainly quantitative differences in symptom severity. Domineering formed the CTree root split; additional splits involved Egocentricity, pornography-viewing frequency, Coldness, Overinvolvement, and global self-esteem. CTree holdout-set accuracy was 0.508 (95% CI [0.418, 0.597]) compared with a majority-class baseline of 0.422, and Cohen’ kappa was 0.181. Balanced accuracy was 0.700 for the relatively elevated profile, 0.501 for the moderate profile, and 0.606 for the low profile. The Ctree, therefore, showed limited holdout discrimination. The profiles are not diagnostic categories, and the split structure requires independent validation before substantive or clinical use.