Multiple Indicators of Subjective Sexual Arousal

Abstract

The Multiple Indicators of Subjective Sexual Arousal (MISSA) is a comprehensive set of three distinct self-report instruments developed by Mosher, Barton-Henry, and Green (1988) to provide standardized measures of subjective sexual arousal. The scales were specifically constructed to enable direct and reliable comparison of arousal experiences between male and female participants across various research settings. The development process was grounded in involvement theory (Mosher, 1980), which defines subjective sexual arousal as a unique affect-cognition blend in consciousness, integrating physiological sexual arousal with associated sexual affects. The MISSA consists of three components: the Ratings of Sexual Arousal (a five-item Likert scale), the Affective Sexual Arousal (a five-item adjective checklist), and the Genital Sensations (an eleven-item ordinal checklist).

Keywords

Sexual arousal, subjective experience, self-report measures, psychosexual research, Likert-type rating scales, genital sensations, psychometric properties, sexual response, involvement theory, affect-cognition blend.

Authors

Donald L. Mosher, M. Barton-Henry, S. E. Green.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Multiple Indicators of Subjective Sexual Arousal (MISSA) is to establish standard, reliable measures for quantifying self-reported sexual arousal. These measures were designed to enhance the uniformity of measurement across different research laboratories and studies, thereby improving the generalizability of findings in sexual psychology.

A key objective during the construction of the MISSA was to ensure the comparability of subjective sexual arousal reports between men and women. By incorporating items derived from extensive past research utilizing various methodologies, including adjective checklists and genital sensation reports, the authors aimed to create tools with strong psychometric properties that capture the multifaceted nature of sexual experience.

Construct

The scale measures Subjective Sexual Arousal, a psychological construct rooted in Donald L. Mosher’s 1980 involvement theory of human sexual response. Within this theoretical framework, subjective sexual arousal is specifically defined as a conscious blending of affective and cognitive components resulting from physiological sexual arousal.

The three subscales of the MISSA collectively operationalize this construct: Ratings of Sexual Arousal assesses overall subjective intensity and specific physical/cognitive feelings (e.g., sexual absorption); Affective Sexual Arousal captures the emotional and feeling states associated with arousal; and Genital Sensations provides an ordered assessment of the physiological awareness and intensity of genital responses, including vasocongestion and orgasm.

Validity

Evidence for the validity of the MISSA measures is robust, particularly concerning convergent validity. When the three subscales were intercorrelated, the median validity coefficient across varying erotic conditions was reported as 0.52, indicating strong consistency in measuring the underlying construct.

Intercorrelations among the three distinct measures within a single erotic condition further demonstrated their convergence:

• Ratings of Sexual Arousal correlated highly with Affective Sexual Arousal (median intercorrelation approximately 0.81).
• Ratings of Sexual Arousal demonstrated a strong relationship with Genital Sensations (median intercorrelation approximately 0.74).
• Affective Sexual Arousal showed a significant correlation with Genital Sensations (median intercorrelation approximately 0.69).

These findings confirm the high degree of overlap and shared variance among the three indicators, lending strong support to the convergent validity of the composite measure.

Reliability

The internal consistency reliability of the two 5-item scales—Ratings of Sexual Arousal and Affective Sexual Arousal—was assessed using Cronbach alpha coefficients. The reliability study utilized a sample of 120 male and 121 female college students responding across four different erotic fantasy conditions.

The results indicated exceptionally high and robust internal reliability across all conditions, with Cronbach alpha coefficients ranging from 0.92 to 0.97. Specifically, the median Cronbach alpha coefficient for the Ratings of Sexual Arousal scale was 0.97, and for the Affective Sexual Arousal scale, the median was 0.96. These high coefficients confirm that the items within each subscale consistently measure their intended construct.

Factor Analysis

The construction of the MISSA was guided by item analysis and selection aimed at securing the highest alpha coefficients across erotic fantasies, suggesting latent factor stability for each measure. While a formal exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis is not detailed in the source content, the high median intercorrelations (ranging from 0.69 to 0.81) between the three measures—Ratings of Sexual Arousal, Affective Sexual Arousal, and Genital Sensations—strongly imply that they are all indicators of a single, unified higher-order factor: Subjective Sexual Arousal.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report multi-scale inventory.

Format: The MISSA consists of three subscales:

• Ratings of Sexual Arousal: Five items rated on a 7-point Likert-type rating scale. Completion time is approximately 2 minutes.
• Affective Sexual Arousal: Five adjective prompts rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale. This scale is generally embedded within a larger 70-item affect checklist, patterned after the Differential Emotions Scale.
• Genital Sensations: An 11-item ordered checklist of physiological responses and orgasm levels. Completion time is approximately 2 to 3 minutes.

Language Available: English (Original development language).

Population Group: Men and women.

Age Group: Adult populations, validated primarily using college students.

Population Details: The scales are appropriate for educated populations due to the use of technical vocabulary in item definitions (e.g., vasocongestion). However, the ordered nature of the Genital Sensations checklist helps to guide less educated respondents, making the measure broadly applicable, particularly when detailed instructions are provided.

Test Methodology: Respondents are instructed to report on their subjective feelings during a specific preceding experience (e.g., viewing erotic media or engaging in fantasy). Scores for the two Likert scales are summed or averaged, with higher scores indicating greater subjective sexual arousal. The Genital Sensations scale score is determined by the peak or highest level checked.

Keywords

Donald L. Mosher, sexual psychology, sex differences, affect adjective checklist, physiological sexual arousal, psychosexual research, self-monitoring, Cronbach alpha coefficients, convergent validity.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source.

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected] (for Donald L. Mosher).

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

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The MISSA measures were developed and published in 1988 (Mosher, Barton-Henry, & Green). Specific details regarding current licensing fees or formal permissions are not provided in the source material, but inquiries should be directed to the corresponding author, Donald L. Mosher.

Reference’s

• Izard, C. E., Dougherty, F. E., Bloxom, B. M., & Kotsch, W. E. (1974). The Differential Emotions Scale: A method of measuring the subjective experience of discrete emotions. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University.
• Jakobovits, L. (1965). Evaluational reactions to erotic literature. Psychological Reports, 16, 985–994.
• Mosher, D. L. (1980). Three dimensions of depth of involvement in human sexual response. The Journal of Sex Research, 16, 1–42.
• Mosher, D. L. (1984). Sexual desire in involvement theory: Sexual motivators. Unpublished manuscript.
• Mosher, D. L., & Abramson, P. R. (1977). Subjective sexual arousal to films of masturbation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 35, 796–807.
• Mosher, D. L., Barton-Henry, M., & Green, S. E. (1988). Subjective sexual arousal and involvement theory: Development of multiple indicators. The Journal of Sex Research, 25, 412–425.
• Mosher, D. L., & Greenberg, I. (1969). Females’ affective responses to reading erotic literature. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 33, 472–477.
• Mosher, D. L., & White, B. B. (1981). On differentiating shame from shyness. Motivation and Emotions, 5, 61–74.
• Schmidt, G., & Sigusch, V. (1970). Sex differences in responses to psychosexual stimulation by films and slides. The Journal of Sex Research, 6, 268–283.

Items of the Multiple Indicators of Subjective Sexual Arousal

Ratings of Sexual Arousal

Instructions: For each item, place a circle around one number that best described how you felt during the experience.

Sexual Arousal—a subjective estimate of your overall level of sexual arousal.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

No sexual Extremely

arousal at all sexually aroused

Genital Sensations—a subjective estimate of the amount and quality of sensation experienced in your genitals.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

No Extreme

sensation at all genital sensation

Sexual Warmth—a subjective estimate of the amount of sexual warmth experienced in the genitals, breasts and body as a function of increasing vasocongestion, i.e., engorgement with blood.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

No sexual Extreme

warmth at all sexual warmth

Non-Genital Physical Sensations—a subjective estimate of the physical sensations such as tickling, floating, or fullness that accompany your experience of sexual arousal.

1234567

No Extreme sensation at all

non-genital physical sensation

Sexual Absorption—a subjective estimate of your level of absorption in the sensory components of the experience.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

No Extreme

absorption at all absorption

Ratings of Affective Sexual Arousal

Instructions: a This scale consists of a number of words that describe different emotions or feelings. Please indicate the extent to which each word describes the way you felt during the preceding experiences. Record your answers by indicating the appropriate number on the five-point scale on the attached answer sheet. Presented below is the scale for indicating the degree to which each word describes the way you feel.

1. Very slightly
2. Slightly
3. Moderately
4. Considerably
5. Very strongly

In deciding on your answer to a given item or word, consider the feeling connoted or defined by that word. Then, if during the experience you felt that way very slightly or not at all, you would darken the blank under the number 1 on the scale; if you felt that way to a moderate degree, you would darken the blank under 3; if you felt that way very strongly, you would darken the circle under 5, and so forth.

Remember, you are requested to make your responses on the basis of the way you felt during the experience. Work at a good pace. It is not necessary to ponder; the first answer you decide on for a given word is probably the most valid. It should not take more than a few minutes to complete the scale.

Items:

1. Sexually aroused
2. Sensuous
3. Turned-on
4. Sexually hot
5. Sexually excited

Ratings of Genital Sensations

Instructions: Genital sensations refer to sensory sensations in the genital region that accompany any source of somatogenic or psycho- genic sexual stimulation and that are a function of increasing vasocongestion in the genital area. Males experience these sensations as accompaniments of penile erections and females experience these sensations as a function of the engorgement of the labia and the orgasmic platform in the vagina with accompanying vaginal lubrication. Below, indicate the peak level of genital sensation that you felt during the experience. The items are:

• 1. No genital sensations.
• 2. Onset of genital sensations—onset of swelling of penis or vulva or nipple erection.
• 3. Mild genital sensations—vascongestion sufficient to begin penile erection or to begin vaginal lubrication.
• 4. Moderate genital sensations—vasocongestion sufficient to erect penis fully or to lubricate vagina fully.
• 5. Prolonged moderate genital sensations—maintain erection for several minutes or considerable vaginal lubrication for several minutes.
• 6. Intense genital sensations—hard or pulsing erection and elevation of testicles in the scrotum; or receptive, engorged vagina or sex flush, or breast swelling or retraction of clitoris or ballooning of vagina.
• 7. Prolonged intense genital sensations—near orgasmic levels of genital sensations; swelling of head of penis or high levels of muscular tension or heavy breathing or high heart rate; lasting several minutes and will produce orgasm if continued.
• 8. Mild orgasm—mild orgasmic release, slow reduction of vasocongestion, 3–5 contractions.
• 9. Moderate orgasm—moderate orgasmic release, average time to resolution of vascongestion, 5–8 contractions.
• 10. Intense orgasm—intense orgasmic release with rapid resolution of vasocongestion, 8–12 contractions.
• 11. Multiple orgasm—repeated orgasmic release in a single sexual episode.