A validation study of the Brazilian version of the pornography consumption inventory (PCI) in a sample of female university students

• Few measures are available to examine pornography-use constructs.
• We confirmed the factorial validity of the Pornography Consumption Inventory (PCI) in female students.
• Men and women seem to show qualitatively similar motivations for consuming pornography.
• The PCI scores of men and women should be compared only if the measurements were invariant.

Although men constitute the widest consumer group of pornography, the Internet has facilitated both the production of and access to pornographic material by women as well. However, few measures are available to examine pornography-use constructs, which can compromise the reliability of statements regarding the harmful use of pornography. Our study aimed to confirm the factorial validity and internal consistency of the Pornography Consumption Inventory (PCI) in a sample of female university students in Brazil. The PCI is a four-factor, 15-item, five-point Likert-type scale. After translation and back-translation of the PCI, it was administered to 105 female medical students. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine the construct validity. The results supported the four-factor model of the PCI. The model showed adequate internal reliability and good fit indices (comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.95, Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) = 0.94, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.07 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.04–0.09), and standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.08). Overall, the findings from this study support the use of the PCI in Portuguese-speaking women.