Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale

Abstract

The Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale (SSSS) is a concise, 10-item psychometric instrument developed by Seth C. Kalichman to measure the dispositional tendency toward seeking out novel, varied, and complex sexual experiences. It also assesses the willingness to engage in physical and social risks in pursuit of enhanced sexual sensations. Derived directly from Zuckerman’s Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS), the SSSS serves as a behaviorally specific measure of sexual adventurism or sexual risk taking. The scale is designed for use across diverse adult and adolescent populations and has been extensively utilized in research focusing on the predictors of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS risk behaviors.

Keywords

Sexual sensation seeking, sexual risk behavior, psychometrics, sensation seeking, sexual adventurism, HIV/AIDS, personality assessment, risk perception, extraversion.

Authors

Seth C. Kalichman

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale is to provide a focused, psychometrically sound assessment of an individual’s dispositional need for diverse and intense sexual experiences. This need encompasses both the desire for novelty and complexity in sexual encounters and the willingness to accept associated personal, physical, and social risks.

The scale was specifically developed to assess sexual risk taking behaviors in adolescents and adults without confounding these behaviors with extraneous conceptual factors, such as general substance use. Its practical application has centered predominantly on understanding and predicting behaviors that increase vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.

Construct

The SSSS measures Sexual Sensation Seeking, which is conceptualized as a behaviorally specified derivative of the broader personality trait of sensation seeking. Sensation seeking itself is considered a dimension of the temperament trait known as extraversion (Zuckerman, 1994). While related to the general sensation-seeking construct, the SSSS is not intended as a replacement; rather, it provides a sex-specific measure of this disposition, focusing purely on sexual contexts and associated risks.

The development process ensured that the scale items reflected sexual adventurism, replacing earlier items that potentially tapped into sexually coercive behavior. The final 10 items are designed to capture the core dimensions of sexual thrill, novelty, and risk tolerance.

Validity

The Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale has demonstrated strong evidence supporting its construct validity through numerous empirical studies examining its correlation with actual high-risk sexual behaviors.

• Convergent Validity: Research by Kalichman et al. (1994) showed that among gay and bisexual men, SSSS scores significantly correlated with rates of unprotected intercourse (r = .32), the number of sexual partners (r = .38), and alcohol use during sexual contexts (r = .23). Subsequent studies confirmed these associations in both men and women regarding the number of sex partners (Kalichman & Rompa, 1995) and the frequency of one-night-stand sexual encounters (Gaither & Sellbom, 2003; Hendershot et al., 2007).

• Predictive Validity: High SSSS scores correlate positively with the perceived pleasure derived from various sexual activities, but are inversely associated with adherence to sexual risk reduction practices, particularly condom use (Kalichman & Rompa, 1995). Furthermore, SSSS scores were found to be higher among gay and bisexual men who engage in both receptive and insertive anal sex compared to those who practice only one form (Hart et al., 2003).

• Discriminant Validity: The scale has shown utility in discriminating between high-risk and low-risk groups. Berg (2008) demonstrated that the SSSS was the most effective single factor distinguishing gay and bisexual men who engage in unprotected sex while minimizing concern about HIV infection, from those who do not engage in such behaviors.

Reliability

The SSSS exhibits excellent psychometric reliability, demonstrated through consistent high levels of internal consistency and acceptable temporal stability across diverse research samples.

• Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated strong internal consistency (measured by Cronbach’s alpha) across varied populations. Reported alpha values include:

  • Male college students (α = .83) and female college students (α = .81) (Gaither & Sellbom, 2003).
  • Community samples of men and women (α’s ranging from .79–.83) (Hendershot et al., 2007; Maisto et al., 2004).
  • Gay and bisexual men (α’s ranging from .75 to .79) (Kalichman et al., 1994; Kalichman & Rompa, 1995).
  • HIV-positive men (α = .83) (O’Leary et al., 2007).
  • Sexually transmitted disease clinic patients in South Africa (α = .71) (Kalichman et al., 2008).

• Item Analysis: Item-to-total correlations generally range from .25 to .79, indicating that all items contribute meaningfully to the overall scale score without any single item overly dominating or diminishing the internal consistency when removed.

• Test-Retest Stability: The SSSS has acceptable time stability, showing correlations of r = .69 over a 2-week interval (Kalichman & Rompa, 1995) and r = .78 over a 3-month interval (Kalichman et al., 1994).

Factor Analysis

The Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale was developed through a systematic process rooted in the factor structure of Zuckerman’s original Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS). Initial item content was selected based on high loadings on SSS factors such as thrill and adventure seeking, disinhibition, and boredom susceptibility, but redefined for sexual relevance.

While the scale does not have formally developed subscales, implying a unidimensional structure in its final 10-item form, the rigorous development process—involving focus groups and refinement across diverse sexual orientations—ensured the items accurately captured the intended construct of sexual adventurism and risk tolerance (Kalichman et al., 1994). Subsequent research generally treats the SSSS as a reliable, single-factor measure.

Instrument

Test Type:

Self-report psychometric scale

Format:

10 items scored on a 4-point Likert scale.

Language Available:

English (Original); translations exist, such as Spanish (Gutiérrez-Martínez et al., 2007).

Population Group:

General community samples, college students, men who have sex with men (MSM), and patients in sexually transmitted disease clinics.

Age Group:

Adolescents and adults of all ages.

Population Details:

The scale has demonstrated utility across various demographic and risk groups, including heterosexual, gay, and bisexual men and women, as well as HIV-positive individuals.

Test Methodology:

The scale is self-administered or interview-administered and requires less than 5 minutes to complete. Scoring involves summing the 10 item responses, or calculating the mean response (sum of items divided by 10). There are no reverse-scored items.

Keywords

Sexual sensation seeking, risk behavior, psychometrics, sensation seeking, sexual adventurism, HIV/AIDS, personality assessment, risk perception, extraversion.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier:

Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses:

[email protected]

Correspondence Address:

Seth C. Kalichman, Department of Psychology, 406 Babbidge Road, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions:

The Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale is in the public domain and is available for open use without restriction.

Fee:

None.

Test Year (Initial Publication):

1994 (Kalichman et al., 1994).

Funding Acknowledgment:

Preparation of the original chapter detailing the scale was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grant R01-MH71164.

Reference’s

• Berg, R. C. (2008). Barebacking among MSM Internet users. AIDS and Behavior, 12, 822–833.

• Gaither, G. A., & Sellbom, M. (2003). The sexual sensation seeking scale: Reliability and validity within a heterosexual college student sample. Journal of Personality Assessment, 81, 157–167.

• Gutiérrez-Martínez, O., Bermúdez, M. P., Teva, I., & Buela-Casal, G. (2007). Sexual sensation-seeking and worry about sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among Spanish adolescents. Psicothema, 19, 661–666.

• Hart, T. A., Wolitski, R. J., Purcell, D. W., Gómez, C., Halkitis, P., & the Seropositive Urban Men’s Study Team. (2003). Sexual behavior among HIV-positive men who have sex with men: What’s in a label? The Journal of Sex Research, 40, 179–188.

• Hendershot, C. S., Stoner, S. A., George, W. H., & Norris, J. (2007). Alcohol use, expectancies, and sexual sensation seeking as correlates of HIV risk behavior in heterosexual young adults. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 21, 365–372.

• Kalichman, S. C., Adair, V., Rompa, D., Multhauf, K., Johnson, J., & Kelly, J. (1994). Sexual sensation-seeking: Scale development and predicting AIDS-risk behavior among homosexually active men. Journal of Personality Assessment, 62, 385–397.

• Kalichman, S. C., & Rompa, D. (1995). Sexual sensation seeking and sexual compulsivity scales: Reliability, validity, and predicting HIV risk behaviors. Journal of Personality Assessment, 65, 586–602.

• Kalichman, S. C., Simbayi, L., Jooste, S., Vermaak R., & Cain, D. (2008). Sensation seeking and alcohol use predict HIV transmission risks: Prospective study of sexually transmitted infection clinic patients, Cape Town, South Africa. Addictive Behaviors, 33, 1630–1633.

• Maisto, S. A., Carey, M. P., Carey, K. B., Gordon, C. M., Schum, J. L., & Lynch, K. G. (2004). The relationship between alcohol and individual differences variables on attitudes and behavioral skills relevant to sexual health among heterosexual young adult men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 33, 571–584.

• O’Leary, A., Fisher, H. H., Purcell, D. W., Spikes, P. S., & Gomez, C. A. (2007). Correlates of risk patterns and race/ethnicity among HIV-positive men who have sex with men. AIDS and Behavior, 11, 706–715.

• Zuckerman, M. (1994). Biological expression and biological bases of sensation seeking. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Items of the Sexual Sensation Seeking Scale

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

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