Female porn stars have higher self-esteem and better quality of life than other women, according to new study

By Lucy Waterlow for MailOnline

Published: 11:34 EDT, 26 November 2012 | Updated: 02:39 EDT, 27 November 2012

Positive outlook: Adult film stars like Jenna Jameson, pictured, were found to have a better quality of life in a recent study

A study published this week has debunked the stereotypical portrayal of porn actresses as 'damaged goods' who enter the adult entertainment industry because they suffer from low esteem or have been victims of childhood sexual abuse.

The report in the Journal of Sex Research found that porn stars are not more likely to have psychological problems than other women.

In fact, they discovered those in the sex entertainment industry had a more positive outlook on life with higher self-confidence and more flattering views on their body image.

'In terms of psychological characteristics, porn actresses had higher levels of self-esteem, positive feelings, social support, sexual satisfaction and spirituality compared to the matched group,' the report summarises.

Researchers at Pennsylvania's Shippensburg University, Texas Woman’s University and the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation said they found no evidence to support the 'damaged goods hypothesis' that all porn actresses have come from backgrounds of sexual abuse.

'Some descriptions of actresses in pornography have included attributes such as drug addiction, homelessness, poverty, desperation and being victims of sexual abuse.

'Some have made extreme assertions, such as claiming that all women in pornography were sexually abused as children,' the report states.

But 'there were no differences in incidence of childhood sexual abuse' between the porn actresses questioned and the cross section of 'average' women, according to their findings.

High self-esteem: Porn actresses had more self-confidence and were happy with their body image compared to the other women questioned (posed by model)

The report, entitled Pornography Actresses: An Assessment of the Damaged Goods Hypothesis, adds these stereotypes have been embraced by anti-porn campaigners even though they found no evidence to support the view that porn actresses are less psychologically stable then other women.

'Stereotypes of those involved in adult entertainment have been used to support or condemn the industry and to justify political views on pornography, although the actual characteristics of actresses are unknown because no study on this group of women has been conducted,' the report explains.

For the study, the researchers compared 177 adult entertainment actresses aged from 18 to 50 with women of the same age, ethnicity and marital status who are not in the porn industry.

The average time the women questioned had spent working in the sex entertainment industry was three-and-a-half years with all of them being paid to work on at least one X-rated movie.

More than one-third were either married or in a serious relationship, while 44 per cent were single.

The study compared their sexual behaviour and attitutes, self-esteem, quality of life and drug use with the 'average' women.

The adult entertainers were found to have higher self-esteem with more positive views on their body image.

Protesters: The researchers said they didn't find evidence to support anti-porn campaigners views that women in the industry are more likely to have a background of childhood sexual abuse

They also had greater levels of spirituality and were rated as having a better quality of life because they slept better and had more energy.

Almost 70 per cent said they had a fulfilling sex life compared to 33 per cent of the other women.

In terms of their sexual history, the report found that the porn actresses had more sexual partners, were more likely to be bisexual and had become sexually active at a younger age - the average being 15 years compared to 17 for the non-porn industry workers.

While the report challenged the stereotype of porn actresses as drug addicts, drug use was found to be more prevalent among the entertainers. They were more likely to have tried ten different types of drugs compared to the control group.