Revised Attitudes Toward Sexuality Inventory

Abstract

The Revised Attitudes Toward Sexuality Inventory (RASI) was developed by Wendy Patton and Mary Mannison in the 1990s to address contemporary issues in human sexuality, with a specific emphasis on attitudes toward sexual coercion. The scale evolved from an initial 72-item inventory designed primarily to evaluate a university course. The final RASI is a concise 40-item measure that broadly assesses attitudes toward sexual relationships and specific topics, including abortion, homosexuality, contraception, and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs). Psychometric analysis confirmed the inventory’s internal consistency and identified three primary, reliable dimensions of sexual attitudes.

Keywords

Attitudes toward sexuality, Sexual coercion, Rape myths, Gender roles, Masturbation, Contraception, Sexuality education, Psychometric scale, University students

Authors

Wendy Patton, Mary Mannison

Purpose

The primary purpose of the RASI was to create a contemporary and psychometrically sound instrument capable of measuring attitudes toward complex and evolving human sexuality issues prominent in the 1990s, particularly sexual coercion. The original 72-item inventory served as an evaluation tool for a university-level human sexuality course, aiming to track attitude change among students following instruction.

The revised 40-item instrument was specifically refined to provide a more focused and reliable measure across several critical domains, including the acceptance of rape myths and traditional gender roles, making it suitable for broader academic and psychological research.

Construct

The RASI measures multidimensional attitudes toward sexuality, encompassing both general sexual practices and specific socio-political issues. The final 40-item scale operationalizes three main factors identified through factor analysis:

• Attitudes Toward Sexual Coercion and Assault: Measures acceptance of behaviors related to sexual pressure and violence, including adherence to rape myths.
• Attitudes Toward Sexuality Issues: Measures less traditional or more progressive attitudes toward diverse topics like masturbation, abortion, and sexuality across the lifespan (childhood and old age).
• Attitudes Toward Gender Roles: Measures the degree of adherence to traditional beliefs regarding the roles, conduct, and expectations of men and women in society and sexual relationships.

Validity

The initial version of the Attitudes Toward Sexuality Inventory was utilized to evaluate attitude change following a university course, providing preliminary evidence of its sensitivity (Patton & Mannison, 1993). Pre- and post-test data received from 115 students demonstrated the instrument’s utility in measuring shifts in attitudes and behavior.

Further analysis of the revised scale (Patton & Mannison, 1995) established construct validity through significant observed gender differences. Specifically, Factor 1 (Attitudes Toward Sexual Coercion and Assault) and Factor 3 (Attitudes Toward Gender Roles) showed significant differences. In nearly every instance on Factor 1, men reported less disagreement with items reflecting sexual coercion, indicating that women held a more negative response toward such behavior. The consistent gender differences found on individual items generally remained for the total factor scores of Factors 1 and 3.

Reliability

Internal consistency reliability was established using Cronbach alpha coefficients. The overall revised 40-item inventory demonstrated strong reliability with an alpha value of .85 (Patton & Mannison, 1995).

The three clear factors identified in the structure also exhibited acceptable to strong internal consistency: Factor 1 (Attitudes Toward Sexual Coercion and Assault) had an alpha of .85, Factor 2 (Attitudes Toward Sexuality Issues) had an alpha of .79, and Factor 3 (Attitudes Toward Gender Roles) had an alpha of .68.

Factor Analysis

A factor analysis conducted on the 40 items of the RASI identified three clear and reliable factors, alongside two other factors that were deemed less clear (Patton & Mannison, 1995). These three primary factors structure the scale’s scoring:

• Factor 1: Attitudes Toward Sexual Coercion and Assault (12 items: 2, 5, 6, 13, 17, 18, 25, 27, 29, 33, 37, 38). Higher scores reflect greater acceptance of rape myths and sexual coercion.
• Factor 2: Attitudes Toward Sexuality Issues (8 items: 4, 7, 8, 15, 19, 20, 23, 35). Higher scores reflect less traditional attitudes toward general sexuality topics.
• Factor 3: Attitudes Toward Gender Roles (5 items: 9, 28, 31, 32, 35). Higher scores reflect more traditional attitudes toward gender roles.

Scoring of the RASI uses a 6-point scale. Items 4, 7, 13, 15, 19, 20, and 23 are reverse-scored to counterbalance response bias tendencies.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological scale, Attitude inventory

Format: 40 items utilizing a 6-point forced-choice Likert scale (Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree)

Language Available: English

Population Group: University students and young adults

Age Group: Late adolescence through early adulthood

Population Details: Initially validated and used among students attending a university course in human sexuality.

Test Methodology: Quantitative assessment of attitudes toward diverse sexual issues. The 6-point response format was deliberately chosen to avoid a neutral midpoint, requiring respondents to commit to either agreement or disagreement. The inventory typically requires 5–10 minutes for completion.

Keywords

Sexual attitudes, Psychometrics, Attitude change, Gender differences, Rape myth acceptance, Cronbach alpha, Psychological measurement

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Wendy Patton, School of Learning and Development, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove Campus 4059, Brisbane, Australia

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The revised inventory was first published and analyzed in 1995 (Patton & Mannison, 1995). Permission for use should be sought directly from the corresponding author, Wendy Patton, affiliated with the Queensland University of Technology. The original research detailing the development of the scale, “Sexuality attitudes: A review of the literature and refinement of a new measure,” was published in the Journal of Sex Education and Therapy.

Reference’s

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Items of the Revised Attitudes Toward Sexuality Inventory

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

1. Some girls will only respond sexually if a little force is used.
2. Women falsely report rape in order to call attention to themselves.
3. Engaging in sex, e.g., for athletes, does not affect their energy and concentration.
4. A woman’s decision to have an abortion is a good enough reason to have one.
5. A girl will often pretend she doesn’t want intercourse because she doesn’t want to seem loose, but she’s really hoping the guy will force her.
6. In the majority of rapes, the woman already has a bad reputation.
7. Children should be encouraged to accept the practice of masturbation.
8. Easily accessible abortion will probably cause people to become unconcerned and careless.
9. There’s nothing wrong with a little sweet talk to get what you want.
10. A woman cannot be forced to have intercourse against her will.
11. The primary goal of sexual intercourse should be to have children.
12. Sexual inaccessibility of a man’s partner is a common cause of child sexual abuse in the home.
13. It’s not okay for a guy to pressure for more sex even if he thinks the girl has led him on.
14. Normal males can commit rape.
15. Children should be ignored if found playing “doctors and nurses” or other games of sexual exploration.
16. It doesn’t hurt children to have a little bit of sex play with their older relatives.
17. If the couple have dated a long time, it’s only natural for the guy to pressure her for sex.
18. Women who are raped are usually a little to blame for the crime.
19. The elderly in nursing homes should have as much sexual access to each other as they want.
20. Contraceptives should be readily available to teenagers.
21. Even if the guy gets sexually excited, it’s not okay for him to use force.
22. Rape is usually planned and premeditated.
23. Masturbation is a normal sexual activity throughout life.
24. Women should receive preferential treatment right now to make up for past discrimination.
25. If a guy spends a lot of money on a girl, he’s got a right to expect a few sexual favours.
26. Forcing a woman to have sex when she doesn’t want to is rape.
27. A woman who initiates a sexual encounter will probably have sex with anybody.
28. Being whistled at in public is like getting a compliment.
29. You can’t blame a guy for not listening when the girl changes her mind at the last minute.
30. No woman harbours a secret desire to be raped.
31. Sexuality education probably leads to experimentation and increased sexual activity.
32. Intoxication among women is worse than among men.
33. A girl should give in to a guy’s advances so as not to hurt his feelings.
34. Rape has nothing to do with an uncontrollable desire for sex.
35. Male and female homosexuality is a threat to many of society’s institutions.
36. If there are rules about corporal punishment in schools, they should apply equally to boys and girls.
37. If a girl engages in necking or petting and she lets things get out of hand, it is her own fault if her partner forces sex on her.
38. A woman who claims she was raped by a man she knows can be described as a “woman who changed her mind afterward.”
39. Most adults who contract AIDS get pretty much what they deserve.
40. No clubs should be allowed to refuse membership, terms, or conditions of membership on the basis of gender.