In longitudinal studies of pornography use, selective loss of participants who may be more vulnerable to the effects of pornography than their peers is a serious concern. To explore the potential for such selective dropout, we used data from two independent large-scale panel studies of adolescents' pornography use. Of the three types of attrition-early attrition, later attrition, and gaps in participation-only the first was substantially higher among more vulnerable adolescents, compared with other participants. Panel type (online vs. classroom-based) moderated only the association between vulnerability and participation gaps, which was significant in the classroom-based but not the online panel. Overall, this study's findings point to the importance of delaying selective dropout by developing a comprehensive plan of action, for which we offer some guidelines.
Keywords: Adolescents; PROBIOPS; Panel attrition; Pornography use; Selective dropout.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.