Attitudes Toward Sexuality Scale

Abstract

The Attitudes Toward Sexuality Scale (ATSS) is a brief, general self-report instrument designed primarily to facilitate the comparison of sexual attitudes between adolescents (ages 12 to 20) and their parents. Developed by Terri D. Fisher and Richard G. Hall (1988), the scale was intentionally created to be simplistic, nonoffensive, and brief to ensure usability with younger populations while retaining validity for adults.

The ATSS comprises 13 items covering a range of topics, including nudity, abortion, contraception, premarital sex, pornography, prostitution, homosexuality, and sexually transmitted diseases. Responses are captured using a 5-point Likert response format, ranging from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree." Total scores range from 13 to 65, with lower scores indicating greater conservatism and higher scores reflecting greater permissiveness regarding sexual matters.

Keywords

Sexual attitudes, permissiveness, conservatism, adolescents, parents, Likert scale, contraception, premarital sex, psychometric reliability, validity.

Authors

Terri D. Fisher, Richard G. Hall.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Attitudes Toward Sexuality Scale (ATSS) is to provide a standardized, brief, and easily administered instrument capable of measuring general sexual attitudes across different generations within the same family unit. The scale specifically allows for the systematic comparison of attitudes held by adolescents (ages 12–20) and their parents.

The instrument was developed out of a need for a measure that was brief, simplistic, and nonoffensive to facilitate its application with younger adolescents while remaining psychometrically sound for adult populations. The scale items were derived from modifications to Calderwood’s Checklist of Attitudes Toward Human Sexuality (1971), supplemented by the addition of an objective scoring system.

Construct

The ATSS measures a unidimensional construct representing an individual’s overall attitude toward various sexual behaviors and social topics, ranging along a continuum from sexual conservatism to sexual permissiveness. This construct reflects the degree of acceptance or rejection of behaviors and social issues related to sexuality outside of traditionally sanctioned contexts (e.g., marriage).

The 13 items provide a general survey of attitudes toward potentially controversial subjects such as abortion, pornography, prostitution, homosexuality, and non-marital sexual activity. Scoring is objective, with lower total scores indicating greater conservatism and higher total scores indicating greater permissiveness.

Validity

The validity of the ATSS has been demonstrated through correlations with established measures and demographic variables across several studies.

• Convergent Validity: In college student samples (Fisher & Hall, 1988), the ATSS correlated highly with the Heterosexual Relations (Liberalism) scale of the Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes Test (SKAT; Lief & Reed, 1972), reporting a strong correlation of r(42) = .83. Significant correlations were also found with the SKAT’s Abortion scale (r(42) = .70), the Autoeroticism scale (r(42) = .54), and the Sexual Myths scale (r(42) = .59).
• Criterion Validity (Behavioral): Research by Chia (2006) indicated that adolescents scoring more permissively on a modified ATSS version were significantly more likely to report having engaged in sexual intercourse, having done so at an earlier age, and having experienced it in more casual situations.
• Demographic Correlates: Age showed a negative correlation with ATSS scores overall (r(280) = −.18) in studies combining adolescents and parents. However, education level was positively correlated with scale scores among adults (r(139) = .20). Religiosity, measured by church attendance, was significantly and negatively correlated across middle adolescents (r(45) = −.32), older adolescents (r(57) = −.44), and adults (r(139) = −.41), confirming that greater religious engagement is associated with more conservative sexual attitudes.
• Gender Differences: Males typically score more permissively than females on the ATSS, consistent with findings across other measures of sexual attitudes, although recent research has provided mixed results regarding the significance of this sex difference (Alexander & Fisher, 2003; Fisher, 2007; Fisher, 2009).

Reliability

The reliability of the ATSS has been assessed using measures of internal consistency and test-retest stability across different age cohorts.

• Internal Consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha): Internal consistency varied slightly across adolescent age groups. For early adolescents (ages 12–14, N=35), the Cronbach alpha coefficient was .76. Middle adolescents (ages 15–17, N=47) showed an alpha of .65, while late adolescents (ages 18–20, N=59) demonstrated the highest consistency at .80. The overall alpha for the total adolescent group was .75. Among the parent sample (N=141, ages 31–66), the alpha was strong at .84.
• Test-Retest Stability: The temporal stability of the measure was assessed using an independent sample of 22 college students (ages 18–28) over a one-month period. The resulting test-retest reliability coefficient was high at .90, indicating excellent stability over time.

Factor Analysis

The original development documents do not detail a formal factor analysis of the 13-item scale. As the ATSS was designed to be a brief, general measure of sexual attitudes, it is treated as a unidimensional scale, with the total score reflecting the core construct of sexual permissiveness versus conservatism. The consistent internal consistency scores across adult and adolescent populations support the use of a single total score.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire, Psychological attitudes scale.

Format: 13 statements requiring responses on a 5-point Likert response format.

Language Available: English (Original development).

Population Group: General population, primarily utilized for intergenerational comparison between adolescents and parents.

Age Group: Adolescents (12 to 20 years old) and Adults (Parents, ages 31–66 in initial studies).

Population Details: The scale is brief and written in simplistic language to ensure suitability and minimize offensiveness across a broad age range, including younger adolescents.

Test Methodology: Administration requires no more than 5 minutes to complete. Scoring involves totaling the points after 7 specific items (1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, and 13) are reverse scored. Total scores range from 13 to 65.

Keywords

Sexual conservatism, sexual permissiveness, intergenerational attitudes, adolescence, psychometrics, college students, SKAT, gender differences.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Terri D. Fisher, The Ohio State University at Mansfield, 1760 University Drive, Mansfield, OH 44906.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1988 (Based on seminal publication: Fisher & Hall, 1988).

Permissions and Fees: Information regarding current licensing and usage fees is not detailed in the source content. Researchers interested in using the scale should contact the corresponding author, Terri D. Fisher, for explicit permission.

Reference’s

The following publications were instrumental in the development, validation, and application of the Attitudes Toward Sexuality Scale (ATSS):

• Alexander, M. G., & Fisher, T. D. (2003). Truth and consequences: Using the bogus pipeline to examine sex differences in self-reported sexuality. The Journal of Sex Research, 40, 27–35.
• Calderwood, D. (1971). About your sexuality. Boston: Beacon.
• Chia, S. C. (2006). How peers mediate media influence on adolescents’ sexual attitudes and sexual behavior. Journal of Communication, 56, 585–606.
• Fisher, T. D. (1986). An exploratory study of parent-child communication about sex and the sexual attitudes of early, middle, and late adolescents. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 147, 543–557.
• Fisher, T. D. (2007). Sex of experimenter and social norm effects on reports of sexual behavior in young men and women. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36, 89–100.
• Fisher, T. D. (2009). The impact of socially conveyed norms on the reporting of sexual behavior and attitudes by men and women. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 567–572.
• Fisher, T. D., & Hall, R. G. (1988). A scale for the comparison of the sexual attitudes of adolescents and their parents. The Journal of Sex Research, 24, 90–100.
• Lief, H. I., & Reed, D. M. (1972). Sex Knowledge and Attitude Test. Philadelphia: Center for the Study of Sex Education in Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

Items of the Attitudes Toward Sexuality Scale

For each of the following statements, please circle the response which best reflects your reaction to that statement.

1. Nudist camps should be made completely illegal.

2. Abortion should be made available whenever a woman feels it would be the best decision.

3. Information and advice about contraception (birth control) should be given to any individual who intends to have intercourse.

4. Parents should be informed if their children under the age of eighteen have visited a clinic to obtain a contraceptive device.

5. Our government should try harder to prevent the distribution of pornography.

6. Prostitution should be legalized.

7. Petting (a stimulating caress of any or all parts of the body) is immoral behavior unless the couple is married.

8. Premarital sexual intercourse for young people is unacceptable to me.

9. Sexual intercourse for unmarried young people is acceptable without affection existing if both partners agree.

10. Homosexual behavior is an acceptable variation in sexual orientation [original term: preference].

11. A person who catches a sexually transmitted [original term: venereal] disease is probably getting exactly what he/she deserves.

12. A person’s sexual behavior is his/her own business, and nobody should make value judgments about it.

13. Sexual intercourse should only occur between two people who are married to each other.

The 5-point scale is repeated after each item.