Do Americans think sex addiction is a real disorder?
Close to one-third (28%) of men said they don’t think sex addiction is a clinical disorder, compared to only 19% of women who chose this same response
Celebrities including Tiger Woods, Russell Brand, and most recently, Jada Pinkett Smith have all said that they have struggled with sex addiction at some point in their lives. A slight majority of Americans (52%) agree that sex addiction is a real clinical disorder, according to new data from YouGov.
Women (54%) are more likely than men (49%) to say that sex addiction is a real clinical disorder. Another 28% of men said they don’t think it’s a clinical disorder, compared to only 19% of women who chose this same response.
Democrats more likely than Republicans (59% vs. 49%) to say that sex addiction is a real clinical disorder. Nearly one-third of Republicans (30%) say sex addiction is not a clinical disorder, compared to 19% of Democrats who chose the same response.
Across different age groups there were few statistically significant differences, though interestingly, people aged 18-24 were slightly less likely than their older peers to say sex addiction is a real clinical disorder.
Overall, these responses are largely similar to responses to the same question from August 2016, when 51% of people said they thought sex addiction was a real clinical disorder, while 24% said it was not. Similarly, in 2016, women were more likely than men (53% vs 49%) to say it was a real disorder, as were Democrats, 60% of whom said it was real compared to 51% of Republicans.
Image: Getty