Psychometric properties and factorial structure of a measure of sexual health status for late adolescents

Abstract

Objectives: This study validated a measuring instrument of sexual health status of late adolescents, which was defined by sexual self-concept (SSC). Factorial structure of the instrument was also explored.

Method: Eight subscales of SSC (viz., sexual esteem, sexual efficacy, sexual satisfaction, sexual anxiety, sexual depression, sexual fear, sexual motivation, and sexual consciousness) relevant to childhood aversive sexual experience, risky sexual behavior, and intimate relationship of late adolescents were selected for this validation study. A questionnaire containing the SSC subscales and other relevant measures was designed for data collection. A total of 735 late adolescents (63.7% females)were invited to participate in this study via convenience sampling.

Results: Reliability (Cronbach α =.80 to .90.) of the eight subscales was highly satisfactory. Contrast-group validity of the instrument was demonstrated by its ability to differentiate sexual health status of (i) females with different degree of virginal intercourse difficulty, and (ii) males with different frequency of premature ejaculation. Construct validity of sexual motivation and sexual consciousness was established by their positive associations with sexual frequency. Three factors of SSC which accounted for 60.4% of the total variance were extracted, viz., positive SSC (sexual esteem, sexual efficacy, and sexual satisfaction), negative SSC (sexual anxiety, sexual depression, and sexual fear), and situational SSC (sexual motivation and sexual consciousness).

Conclusion: A measuring instrument of sexual health status was validated. The instrument was of sound psychometric properties, which should prove useful for the study of sexual health status of late adolescents.