Measures

The Measurement of Sexual Attitudes and Sexuality Standards. What are some of the measurement issues associated with measuring sexual attitudes and sexuality standards?

What measures were used in these studies?

• Relationship Requirements Rating Scale (RRRS). A face valid item was adapted from Hunt (1974) and Delamater and MacCorquodale (1979) to assess relationship requirements prior to vaginal intercourse in a forced choice format.
• Modified Sexuality Standards Scale (MSSS). Five items were written to assess participants acceptance of sexual intercourse for themselves as a function of the relationship. Responses were obtained on a 9 point scale with the endpoints anchored with "Very Acceptable for Me" and "Very Unacceptable for Me". The general format was the same as the typical sexuality standard scale, however the target person references was "self". In order to summate these five items into a Modified Sexuality Standards Scale score, principle components factor analysis was used to make sure the items formed a unidimensional scale. This resulted in one factor that accounted for 66% of the variability of the individual items. The first item was reverse coded and the items were summated to form the MSSS. Higher scores on the MSSS indicate more sexual permissiveness. The MSSS has an internal consistency reliability of .87 which is more than adequate. Scores on the MSSS were normally distributed and ranged from 5 to 35 (mean = 17.57, sd = 8.3). To facilitate interpretation of the individual MSSS items for examining specific beliefs, 5 was subtracted from each response which resulted in scoring that ranged from -4 (Very Unacceptable for Self) to +4 (Very Acceptable for Self).
• Sexual Opinion Survey. The Sexual Opinion Survey was scored according to instructions from Fisher, Byrne, and White (1983). Higher scores indicate more positive affect toward sexuality (Erotophilia)--lower scores mean more negative affective reactions toward sexuality (Erotophobia).

  Sample	Alpha	Range	Mean	sd
  Oklahoma	.72	9 - 111	65.09	21.68
  Texas	.80	3 - 107	53.72	21.88

• Sexual Behavior Measures. Several measures of sexual behavior were available:
  • Age of onset of sexual intercourse (OK sample)
  • Number of different sexual partners in the last year (OK & TX samples)
  • Number of one night stands (TX sample)
• Q-sort Data, Oklahoma Sample. Three vignettes were written to illustrate males and females in relationships that reflected typical examples of Abstinence, Permissiveness with Affection, and Permissiveness without Affection. The description of love was drawn from Lamanna and Riedman (1985).
• Q-Sort Data, Texas Sample. Ten vignettes were written to represent points on Reiss's premarital sexuality standards continuum. Each vignette contained a description of the couple having much in common on their first date. Additional information was added to each vignette to illustrate the core beliefs of each sexuality standard. The first vignette consisted of a couple who were engaged but had decided not to have sex until after they were married. The second vignette consisted of a couple who were now engaged and had had sex. The third vignette consisted of a couple who were now in love and had engaged in sex with each other. The fourth vignette consisted of a couple who liked each other and who had sex. The fifth vignette consisted of a couple who had sex on their first date.
  

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