The Sexual Awareness Scale (SAS)

Abstract

The Sexual Awareness Scale (SAS) is a 36-item, self-report psychological scale developed in 1991 by Warren E. Snell, Jr., Teresa D. Fisher, and Rowland S. Miller. It serves as a comprehensive measure of an individual’s sexual self-concept and awareness. The SAS conceptualizes sexual awareness as a complex, multidimensional construct that integrates cognitive, behavioral, and social components, specifically focusing on internal reflection, monitoring of external perceptions, and behavioral sexual assertiveness.

This instrument is widely utilized in research settings to investigate the complex relationships between sexual consciousness and critical outcomes related to sexual attitudes, behaviors, and relationship dynamics. By providing scores across four distinct subscales, the SAS offers a nuanced profile of how individuals perceive and manage their own sexuality.

Keywords

sexual awareness, sexual consciousness, sexual monitoring, sexual assertiveness, sex appeal, psychometrics, sexuality, self-concept, psychological assessment, sexual health.

Authors

Warren E. Snell, Jr., Teresa D. Fisher, Rowland S. Miller, David G. Wooldridge.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Sexual Awareness Scale (SAS) is to provide researchers with a systematic and validated instrument to assess how actively individuals attend to, comprehend, and manage both their internal sexual experiences and their external sexual presentation. Before the SAS, many cognitive and behavioral dimensions of sexual awareness were often overlooked in empirical studies. The scale addresses this gap by offering a nuanced perspective on sexual self-perception.

By yielding scores across four distinct, empirically derived subscales, the SAS facilitates detailed empirical investigation into how these facets of awareness correlate with important life outcomes, such as relationship satisfaction, overall sexual health, and consistent engagement in safer sexual practices. The instrument is designed to clearly differentiate between internalized self-reflection (consciousness) and socially driven concerns regarding sexual appeal and perception (monitoring).

Construct

The SAS is founded upon the broad psychological construct of Sexual Awareness, which is defined as the degree to which an individual is aware of and attends to their own sexual feelings, motivations, and behaviors. Factor analysis confirmed that this construct is best understood through four specific, inter-related dimensions:

• Sexual-consciousness: This dimension measures the extent of internal focus and cognitive introspection directed toward one’s own sexual feelings, arousal, motivations, and tendencies. It represents the deep, private self-reflection concerning sexual desires.
• Sexual-monitoring: This factor captures the individual’s concern regarding external sexual perception. It reflects the degree to which a person actively monitors how they are perceived sexually by others, including preoccupation with body appearance and the drive to create a positive sexual impression.
• Sexual-assertiveness: Representing the behavioral component, this subscale assesses the willingness and competence to clearly and directly communicate sexual desires, negotiate sexual needs, and insist upon mutually satisfying or safe sexual practices within a relationship.
• Sex-appeal-consciousness: This subscale focuses on the acute awareness and certainty an individual possesses regarding whether or not they are perceived by others as sexually attractive or “sexy.”

Validity

The initial validation studies for the SAS provided robust evidence supporting its construct validity. The original factor analysis empirically confirmed the hypothesized four-factor structure, which successfully maintained the theoretical separation between the internal, reflective aspects of awareness (consciousness) and the external, socially focused aspects (monitoring and appeal).

Furthermore, the scale demonstrated strong criterion validity, showing meaningful correlations with established external measures of sexual health and behavior. For example, individuals scoring highly on the Sexual-assertiveness subscale are reliably more likely to engage in proactive behaviors, such as initiating discussions about contraception and adhering to safer sexual practices, thereby confirming the instrument’s capacity to predict real-world behavioral outcomes.

Reliability

The Sexual Awareness Scale exhibits strong internal consistency, which is a critical indicator of its reliability. The original psychometric analyses consistently reported high Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the overall scale and each of its constituent subscales. This statistical evidence confirms that the items within each dimension cohere effectively and consistently measure the same underlying facet of sexual awareness.

High internal consistency allows researchers to utilize the derived scores confidently in both clinical and academic research settings. While specific data regarding test-retest reliability may require confirmation across diverse populations, the foundational psychometric documentation supports the stability and structural coherence of the instrument.

Factor Analysis

The development process for the Sexual Awareness Scale relied on rigorous factor analysis to confirm and delineate the structure of the sexual awareness construct. This analysis yielded a stable and robust four-factor solution that underlies the 36-item measure. This outcome was crucial in validating the necessity of distinguishing between the cognitive, behavioral, and socially situated aspects of sexual self-perception.

The specific item distribution across the four identified factors is as follows (R denotes items that require reverse scoring for calculation):

• Sexual-consciousness (6 items): Items 1, 4, 10, 13, 22, and 25.
• Sexual-monitoring (9 items): Items 2, 5, 14, 17, 23 (R), 26 (R), 28 (R), 31 (R), and 32 (R).
• Sexual-assertiveness (7 items): Items 3, 6 (R), 9 (R), 12, 15, 18, and 24.
• Sex-appeal-consciousness (3 items): Items 8, 11, and 29.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire / Psychological assessment scale

Format: 36 items using a 5-point Likert scale.

Language Available: English (Primary development language).

Population Group: General adult population.

Age Group: Adults (18+).

Population Details: While originally validated primarily using samples of undergraduate students, the SAS is intended for use with any adult population engaged in research concerning sexual attitudes and behaviors.

Test Methodology: Participants are instructed to rate how characteristic each statement is of them using a 5-point response scale. The anchors are: A = Not at all characteristic of me, B = Slightly characteristic of me, C = Somewhat characteristic of me, D = Moderately characteristic of me, and E = Very characteristic of me. Responses are subsequently converted to numerical scores, with designated items requiring reverse scoring (R) to maintain consistency in the direction of the underlying construct.

Keywords

psychological measurement, sexual self-awareness, sexual health, sex research, psychometric properties, self-consciousness, relationship dynamics, behavioral assessment.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source).

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source).

Correspondence Address: N/A (Researchers should refer to the institutional affiliation of the primary developer, W. E. Snell, Jr., at the time of publication for correspondence details).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Sexual Awareness Scale was developed and first published in 1991. The instrument is generally available for non-commercial academic and research purposes, often provided without a fee by the principal developer, Dr. W. E. Snell, Jr. Researchers planning large-scale or proprietary implementation are strongly advised to confirm current usage permissions, licensing requirements, and copyright status directly with the authors before deployment. The original instrument can be found online at: http://www4.semo.edu/snell/scales/SAS.htm and http://www4.semo.edu/snell/TESTING.HTM.

Reference’s

1. Snell, W. E., Jr., Fisher, T. D., & Miller, R. S. (1991). Development of the Sexual Awareness Questionnaire: Components, reliability, and validity. Annals of Sex Research, 4, 65-92.

2. Snell, W. E., Jr., & Wooldridge, D. G. (1998). Sexual awareness: Contraception, sexual behaviors and sexual attitudes. Sexual and Marital Therapy, 13, 191-199.

3. Snell, W. E., Jr. (1994, April). Sexual awareness: contraception, sexual behaviors and sexual attitudes. Paper presented at the 63rd annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Tulsa, OK.

4. Snell, W. E., Jr., Fisher, T. D., & Miller, R. S. (in press). The Sexual Awareness Scale. In C. M. Davis, W. L. Yarber, and S. L. Davis (Eds.), Handbook of sexuality-related measures. Newbury Park: Sage.

Items of the The Sexual Awareness Scale (SAS)

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

1. I am very aware of my sexual feelings.

2. I wonder whether others think I’m sexy.

3. I’m assertive about the sexual aspects of my life.

4. I’m very aware of my sexual motivations.

5. I’m concerned about the sexual appearance of my body.

6. I’m not very direct about voicing my sexual desires. (R)

7. I’m always trying to understand my sexual feelings.

8. I know immediately when others consider me sexy.

9. I am somewhat passive about expressing my sexual desires. (R)

10. I’m very alert to changes in my sexual desires.

11. I am quick to sense whether others think I’m sexy.

12. I do not hesitate to ask for what I want in a sexual relationship.

13. I am very aware of my sexual tendencies.

14. I usually worry about making a good sexual impression on others.

15. I’m the type of person who insists on ha‎ving my sexual needs met.

16. I think about my sexual motivations more than most people do.

17. I’m concerned about what other people think of my sex appeal.

18. When it comes to sex‚ I usually ask for what I want.

19. I reflect about my sexual desires a lot.

20. I never seem to know when I’m turning others on.

21. If I were sexually interested in someone‚ I’d let that person know.

22. I’m very aware of the way my mind works when I’m sexually aroused.

23. I rarely think about my sex appeal. (R)

24. If I were to have sex with someone‚ I’d tell my partner what I like.

25. I know what turns me on sexually.

26. I don’t care what others think of my sexuality. (R)

27. I don’t let others tell me how to run my sex life.

28. I rarely think about the sexual aspects of my life. (R)

29. I know when others think I’m sexy.

30. If I were to have sex with someone‚ I’d let my partner take the initiative. (R)

31. I don’t think about my sexuality very much. (R)

32. Other people’s opinions of my sexuality don’t matter very much to me. (R)

33. I would ask about sexually-transmitted diseases before ha‎ving sex with someone.

34. I don’t consider myself a very sexual person.

35. When I’m with others‚ I want to look sexy.

36. If I wanted to practice “safe sex” with someone‚ I would insist on doing so.