Aggressive Sexual Behavior Inventory

Abstract

The Aggressive Sexual Behavior Inventory (ASBI; Mosher & Anderson, 1986) is a psychological instrument developed to quantify specific acts of sexual aggression perpetrated by men against women, particularly within dating or heterosocial contexts. This measure aims to overcome limitations associated with single-question measures of behaviors like date rape, which often suffer from issues of unreliability and false reporting.

The ASBI consists of 20 items, or a 10-item short form, utilizing a 7-point Likert-type format to assess the frequency of past aggressive tactics. Initial factor analysis on college men identified six key behavioral dimensions: Sexual Force, Drugs and Alcohol, Verbal Manipulation, Angry Rejection, Anger Expression, and Threat. The summed score provides a robust estimate of a man’s history of aggressive sexual behavior, suitable for use as both an individual-differences measure and a dependent variable in psychological research.

Keywords

Sexual aggression, dating violence, macho personality, callous sexual attitudes, Hypermasculinity Inventory, Likert scale, Cronbach alpha, varimax rotation.

Authors

Donald L. Mosher, Richard D. Anderson.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the ASBI is to provide a reliable, quantitative measure of a man’s history of utilizing aggressive and coercive tactics to gain sexual access to women. It focuses specifically on behaviors occurring in dating or other sociosexual interactions, offering a more detailed assessment than simple self-reports regarding the occurrence of rape or highly hypothetical questions about sexual violence.

The summed score from the 20 items serves two main functions in research. First, it can function as an individual-differences measure, distinguishing between men based on their propensity for sexually aggressive behavior. Second, it is frequently employed as a dependent variable in studies aiming to identify predictive correlates, such as personality traits or substance use, associated with aggressive sexual behavior.

Construct

The ASBI measures the construct of aggressive sexual behavior, which is defined as the use of various coercive tactics—ranging from verbal pressure and manipulation to physical force and the exploitation of substances like alcohol and drugs—employed by men to compel women into sexual activity. The scale was developed based on the observation that men exhibiting a macho personality constellation, characterized by callous sexual attitudes, frequently employ these tactics.

The inventory captures the breadth of aggressive behavior, acknowledging that men with high scores exhibit a pattern of employing these tactics frequently, regardless of the success of any single attempt. The scale’s utility lies in providing an anonymous, multi-item assessment, which is considered a better estimator of a man’s history of aggression than single-item measures.

Validity

The validity of the ASBI summed score has been supported by significant correlations with several related psychological constructs, primarily measured by the Hypermasculinity Inventory (Mosher & Sirkin, 1984). The ASBI showed positive correlations with key components of hypermasculinity, including Callous Sexual Attitudes (r = .53), Macho Personality (r = .33), Violence as Manly (r = .23), and Danger as Exciting (r = .26).

In terms of divergent validity, aggressive sexual behavior was significantly negatively correlated with measures of guilt derived from the Mosher Forced-Choice Guilt Inventory (Mosher, 1966), showing correlations of r = –.53 with Sex-Guilt and r = -.49 with Hostility-Guilt. Furthermore, a study on rock musicians (Zaitchik, 1986) found substantial correlations between the ASBI and substance abuse: cocaine use (r = .72), amphetamine use (r = .70), and marijuana use (r = .50).

During a guided imagery procedure involving realistic rape, men scoring high on the ASBI reported significantly greater subjective sexual arousal, confirming a central hypothesis. Interestingly, they also reported greater negative affective experiences (anger, distress, fear, shame, and guilt). These results were interpreted as consistent with the revivification of mood-congruent, state-memories (Bower, 1981) related to their own prior acts of sexual aggression.

Reliability

The ASBI demonstrates high internal consistency, supporting its recommendation as a homogeneous measure of aggressive sexual behavior. In the original standardization sample of 125 college men (Mosher & Anderson, 1986), the Cronbach alpha coefficient for the summed score of all 20 items was reported as .94. This high reliability coefficient suggests that the items consistently measure the same underlying construct.

The shorter 10-item form of the inventory also maintained strong reliability. In a separate sample of 55 male rock musicians (Zaitchik, 1986), the Cronbach alpha for the short form was calculated at .87, confirming its utility when time constraints necessitate a briefer measure.

Factor Analysis

The scale structure was derived from a sample of 125 college men who responded to 33 initial items. A varimax factor analysis with orthogonal rotation successfully extracted six distinct factors, representing different methods or contexts of sexual coercion. The six factors and the items loading most highly on them are:

• Sexual Force (Endorsed by 28%): Items 3, 9, 11, 14, 17, 19
• Drugs and Alcohol (Endorsed by 75%): Items 2, 6, 15
• Verbal Manipulation (Endorsed by 64%): Items 1, 4, 7, 20
• Angry Rejection (Endorsed by 43%): Items 10, 13
• Anger Expression (Endorsed by 46%): Items 8, 16, 18
• Threat (Endorsed by 13%): Items 5, 12

The 10-item short form includes Items 1, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, and 19.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report inventory (Psychological scale)

Format: 20 items (or 10-item short form) rated on a 7-point Likert-type format, where 1 means never and 7 means extremely frequently.

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: Male

Age Group: College-age and Adult

Population Details: Primarily validated on male college students, though applicable to other specific male populations (e.g., rock musicians). Designed to measure aggression against women in heterosocial-heterosexual situations.

Test Methodology: The inventory requires approximately 5 minutes to complete. Responses are typically marked on machine-scoreable answer sheets. Scoring involves summing item responses; higher scores indicate greater frequency of aggressive sexual behavior. Scores range from 20 to 140 (full form) or 10 to 70 (short form).

Keywords

Sexual force, verbal manipulation, anger expression, guilt inventory, forced sexual behavior, dating aggression, psychological assessment.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Donald L. Mosher, 648 Ternberry Forest Drive, The Villages, FL 32162.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1986 (Original publication: Mosher & Anderson, 1986).

Permissions and Fee: Information regarding current permissions and fees is not provided in the source material. Researchers seeking to utilize the ASBI should contact the corresponding author, Donald L. Mosher, for current usage rights and availability.

Reference’s

The following are the key references associated with the development and validation of the ASBI:

• Anderson, R. D. (1983). Hyper-masculine attitudes, aggressive sexual behaviors, and the reactions of college men to a guided imagery presentation of realistic rape. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Connecticut, Storrs.
• Bower, G. H. (1981). Mood and mercy. American Psychologist, 36, 129– 148.
• Mosher, D. L. (1966). The development and multitrait-multimethod matrix analysis of three measures of guilt. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 30, 25–29.
• Mosher, D. L., & Anderson, R. D. (1986). Macho personality, sexual aggression, and reactions to guided imagery of realistic rape. Journal of Research in Personality, 20(2), 77–94.
• Mosher, D. L., & Sirkin, M. (1984). Measuring a macho personality constellation. Journal of Research in Personality, 18, 150–163.
• Zaitchik, M. (1986). Macho personality and life satisfaction in rock musicians. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Connecticut, Storrs.

Items of the Aggressive Sexual Behavior Inventory

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. I have threatened to leave or to end a relationship if a woman wouldn’t have sex with me.

2. I have gotten a woman drunk in order to have sex with her.

3. I have waited my turn in line with some other guys who were sharing a “party girl.”

4. I have told a woman that I wanted to come into her apartment so I could get her where I wanted.

5. I have warned a woman that she could get hurt if she resisted me, so she should relax and enjoy it.

6. I have gotten a woman high on marijuana or pills so she would be less able to resist my advances.

7. I have told a woman I was petting with that she couldn’t stop and leave me with “blue balls.”

8. I have blown my top and sworn or broken something to show a woman that she shouldn’t get me angry.

9. I have brought a woman to my place after a date and forced her to have sex with me.

10. I have told a woman I was going out with that I could find someone else to give me sex if she wouldn’t.

11. I have calmed a woman down with a good slap or two when she got hysterical over my advances.

12. I have promised a woman that I wouldn’t harm her if she did everything that I told her to do.

13. I have called a woman an angry name and pushed her away when she would not surrender to my need for sex.

14. I have forced a woman to have sex with me and some of my pals.

15. I have turned a woman on to some expensive drugs so that she would feel obligated to do me a sexual favor.

16. I have roughed a woman up a little so that she would understand that I meant business.

17. I have pushed a woman down and made her undress or torn her clothes off if she wouldn’t cooperate.

18. I have gripped a woman tightly and given her an angry look when she was not giving me the sexual response I wanted.

19. I have gotten a little drunk and forced a woman that I’m with to have sex with me.

20. I have told a woman that her refusal to have sex with me was changing the way I felt about her.