Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Scale

Abstract

The Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Scale (PSPS) is a psychometric instrument designed to measure individuals’ attitudes regarding the acceptability of premarital sexual activity. Unlike single-item measures of sexual standards, the PSPS assesses permissiveness across varying levels of relational development, thereby capturing nuanced variation in sexual attitudes. The original version (Sprecher, McKinney, Walsh, & Anderson, 1988) contained 15 items, combining three distinct sexual behaviors (heavy petting, sexual intercourse, and oral-genital sex) with five stages of relationship commitment (first date, casually dating, seriously dating, pre-engaged, and engaged).

Research using the PSPS has consistently demonstrated that acceptance of premarital sex increases proportionally with the level of relationship commitment. While variations exist across sexual activities—heavy petting is generally most acceptable—the scale’s core utility lies in its ability to measure standards for self versus others, and to detect gender-based differences, such as the persistence of a double standard.

Keywords

Sexual attitudes, premarital sex, sexual permissiveness, relationship stage, dating, double standard, sexual standards, Reiss scale revision.

Authors

Susan Sprecher, K. McKinney, R. Walsh, C. Anderson

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Scale (PSPS) is to provide a comprehensive, multiple-item measure of sexual standards that is more discriminating than typical single-item assessments used in large-scale studies, such as the General Social Survey. It aims to quantify how an individual’s acceptance of sexual behaviors changes depending on the context of the relationship.

The scale is structured to allow investigators to examine not only general sexual permissiveness within a sample but also specific variations tied to the target of the standard. This allows for critical comparisons, such as assessing standards applied to the self versus those applied to others, or standards for males versus standards for females, which helps in the empirical study of the double standard in sexual attitudes.

Construct

The PSPS measures the psychological construct of Contextual Sexual Permissiveness. This construct reflects the degree to which an individual views specific premarital sexual behaviors as acceptable, contingent upon the stage or level of commitment within a romantic relationship. The construct is operationalized by crossing three dimensions of sexual behavior with five discrete stages of relational development.

The three original sexual behaviors assessed are heavy petting (defined as touching of genitals), sexual intercourse, and oral-genital sex. These behaviors are measured across relationship stages including: first date, casually dating, seriously dating, pre-engaged (seriously discussing marriage), and engaged. Later versions often focus on the sexual intercourse items across a reduced set of relationship stages, sometimes excluding the pre-engaged stage.

Validity

Evidence for the construct validity of the PSPS is supported by findings that align with theoretical expectations regarding gender differences in sexual standards. Research utilizing the scale consistently demonstrates that male participants exhibit higher levels of sexual permissiveness compared to female participants, particularly in the earliest stages of relational commitment (i.e., first date and casually dating).

Furthermore, convergent validity has been established through positive correlations between the PSPS and other established measures of sexuality. Specifically, the subscale measuring the acceptability of sexual intercourse for the self was found to be significantly and positively correlated with the sexual attitude items derived from the Sociosexuality Orientation Inventory (Simpson & Gangestad, 1991), confirming that the PSPS measures constructs related to general sociosexual orientation.

Reliability

The Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Scale demonstrates high internal consistency, indicating that the items effectively measure a unified construct. Based on unpublished data collected from over 6,000 undergraduate students at a Midwest university, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the 5-item subscale measuring the acceptability of sexual intercourse for the self was calculated at .82. This value suggests a robust level of reliability for this frequently used subscale.

Factor Analysis

The source material does not provide specific details regarding a formal factor analysis of the Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Scale. The scale’s structure is inherently multidimensional, initially comprising three distinct sexual behaviors crossed with five relational stages, suggesting a complex factor structure related to both behavior type and relationship commitment level.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report attitude scale / Psychometric measure of sexual standards

Format: Multiple-item scale utilizing a 6-point forced-choice response format (Likert-type scale).

Language Available: English (Original development language)

Population Group: Primarily used with young adults and undergraduate students, but adaptable for measuring attitudes in other populations (e.g., parents regarding their adult children’s behavior).

Age Group: Late adolescence to young adulthood (College-aged population is most common).

Population Details: Original reliability data derived from over 6,000 undergraduate students at a Midwest university.

Test Methodology: Participants indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement with statements regarding the acceptability of specific sexual behaviors at various stages of relationship commitment. Response options are reverse coded during scoring so that a higher final score indicates greater sexual permissiveness. Administration of the 5-item version is very quick, typically requiring only 1 to 2 minutes.

Keywords

Sexual standards, relationship commitment, heavy petting, oral-genital sex, sexual intercourse, Sociosexuality Orientation Inventory, Cronbach’s alpha, construct validity.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Susan Sprecher, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was originally published in 1988 (Sprecher et al.). Information regarding current permissions, usage fees, and licensing requirements must be obtained directly from the corresponding author, Susan Sprecher, or the journal publisher.

Reference’s

Reiss, I. L. (1964). The scaling of premarital sexual permissiveness. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 26, 188–198.

Reiss, I. L. (1967). The social context of premarital sexual permissive- ness. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Simpson, J. A., & Gangestad, S. W. (1991). Individual differences in sociosexuality: Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 870–883.

Sprecher, S. (1989). Premarital sexual standards for different categories of individuals. The Journal of Sex Research, 26, 232–248.

Sprecher, S., McKinney, K., Walsh, R., & Anderson, C. (1988). A revision of the Reiss Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Scale. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 50, 821–828.

Items of the Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Scale

Following are the items for sexual intercourse in reference to the self. Directions. For each of the following statements, indicate to what extent you agree or disagree with it. These statements concern what you think is appropriate behavior for you.

Response option: The following response options follow each item.

• Agree Strongly
• Agree Moderately
• Agree Slightly
• Disagree Slightly
• Disagree Moderately
• Disagree Strongly

The items:

1. I believe that sexual intercourse is acceptable for me on a first date.
2. I believe that sexual intercourse is acceptable for me when I’m casually dating my partner (dating less than one month).
3. I believe that sexual intercourse is acceptable for me when I’m seriously dating my partner (dating almost a year).
4. I believe that sexual intercourse is acceptable for me when I am pre-engaged to my partner (we have seriously discussed the possibility of getting married).
5. I believe that sexual intercourse is acceptable for me when I’m engaged to my partner.

The researcher may also ask about the acceptability of other sexual behaviors. For example, the researcher may include similar items that ask about acceptability of heavy petting (e.g., touching of genitals) and oral-genital sex for the five different relationship stages, as was done in Sprecher et al. (1988). Furthermore, the researcher may ask about acceptability of sexual behaviors for different targets—for example, for a male and a female (see Sprecher, 1989; Sprecher et al., 1988). An example item to measure standards for a female would be “I believe that sexual intercourse is acceptable for a female who is seriously dating her partner.” An example item from the male version is “I believe that sexual intercourse is acceptable for a male who is engaged to his partner.”