There is no clear distinction between young people who receive sex education at school and those who don’t when it comes to consuming pornography, new research by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has found.

While the authors recommend more Social Personal and Health Education (SHPE), which incorporates sex education, they report that “there is no strong relationship between the provision of sex education at school and pornography use”.

This is in stark contrast with other factors which reveal significant differences.

According to the study, 64 per cent of 20-year-old men watch porn, while only 13 per cent of women that age reported use, a ratio of five to one, with different factors being linked to pornography use between the two cohorts.

Men from more advantaged backgrounds are more likely to use pornography, the report claims, and the pattern is not explained by their greater use of the internet in general. By contrast, there is little variation on usage by social background for women.

Pornography use was also lower among those with a religious affiliation and where there was greater parental monitoring in adolescence – of internet use for men and not spending time home alone for women.

Men who access pornography are said to be less satisfied with their lives, have more depressive symptoms and a poorer self-image.

Among both women and men there are higher levels of aggression for users.

They are also likely to cope with stress by drinking alcohol or by drug-taking, or taking to their bed.