Sexual Attitudes Scale

Abstract

The Sexual Attitudes Scale (SAS), initially introduced in 1987 as the Hendrick Sexual Attitudes Scale (HSAS) by Hendrick, Hendrick, and Reich, is a critical psychological scale designed to quantify complex and multidimensional attitudes toward human sexuality. The original instrument contained 43 items.

Recognizing the need for efficiency in research, the authors later developed the 23-item Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale (BSAS) in 2006. Both the long (HSAS) and brief (BSAS) versions are grounded in a four-factor structure: Permissiveness (attitudes toward casual sex), Communion (idealistic, emotional connection), Instrumentality (self-centered, physical views), and a dimension related to specific behaviors, which is either Sexual Practices (HSAS) or Birth Control (BSAS). The scale employs a 5-point Likert scale response format and exhibits robust psychometric properties, including high internal consistency across its subscales.

Keywords

Sexual Attitudes Scale, HSAS, BSAS, Permissiveness, Communion, Instrumentality, Sexual Practices, Birth Control, psychometrics, human sexuality, relationship satisfaction, scale development, dating relationships, intimacy, commitment.

Authors

Clyde Hendrick, Susan S. Hendrick, Dean A. Reich.

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Purpose

The core purpose of the Sexual Attitudes Scale is to move beyond simplistic, unidimensional assessments of sexual attitudes (e.g., conservative versus liberal) to provide a nuanced, comprehensive framework for understanding an individual’s orientation toward sexuality. It captures the complexity of personal beliefs regarding intimate behavior across several distinct attitudinal dimensions.

The scale is widely used in relational research to explore the connections between specific sexual perspectives and critical relational variables, such as communication quality, conflict resolution strategies, and overall relationship satisfaction. By isolating factors like Communion, researchers can differentiate individuals who view sex idealistically and emotionally from those who approach it functionally, recreationally, or physically (as measured by Permissiveness and Instrumentality).

Construct

The Sexual Attitudes Scale is fundamentally a multidimensional instrument designed to measure four empirically distinct, yet related, psychological constructs that define how individuals perceive the meaning and role of sex in their lives. Although the specific items were refined between the long (HSAS) and brief (BSAS) forms, the theoretical core of the measured constructs remains consistent.

The four primary constructs measured are:

• Permissiveness: Reflects acceptance of casual sexuality, multiple partners, and sexual activity conducted without the necessity of emotional attachment or commitment.
• Communion: Represents an idealistic and romantic orientation toward sexuality, emphasizing emotional closeness, deep intimacy, communication, and the concept of sexual merging or oneness.
• Instrumentality: Characterized by attitudes that endorse a physical, biological, or self-centered view of sex, often seeing it primarily as a physical release, a function, or a means to an end.
• Sexual Practices (HSAS Long Form): This factor focuses on attitudes toward specific sexual behaviors, including masturbation, the use of sex toys, and the importance of sex education.
• Birth Control (BSAS Brief Form): This revised factor focuses specifically on attitudes related to responsible sexual behavior, particularly the shared responsibility for contraception among partners.

Validity

Evidence for the validity of the Sexual Attitudes Scale rests significantly on the rigorous factor analytic procedures employed during its development, which confirmed its intended multidimensional structure. The consistent differentiation among the four factors (Permissiveness, Communion, Instrumentality, and the fourth subscale) provides strong support for construct validity, indicating the scale successfully measures the distinct theoretical components it was designed to assess.

The structural validity of the scale is further reinforced by the finding that the four-factor structure remained stable across both the original 43-item HSAS (1987) and the shortened 23-item BSAS (2006), despite changes in item composition. The continuous and extensive use of the scale in published academic research also confirms its practical utility and predictive power concerning relationship quality and various measures of sexual behavior.

Reliability

The Sexual Attitudes Scale demonstrates high levels of internal consistency, a crucial aspect of reliability, across all its subscales. The Permissiveness dimension consistently shows the strongest internal consistency in both versions. The following Cronbach’s alpha coefficients demonstrate that items within each subscale are highly correlated and measure the same underlying construct:

• HSAS Long Form Reliability (1987):
  • Permissiveness: Alpha = 0.94
  • Sexual Practices: Alpha = 0.71
  • Communion: Alpha = 0.80
  • Instrumentality: Alpha = 0.80
• BSAS Brief Form Reliability (2006):
  • Permissiveness: Alpha = 0.94
  • Communion: Alpha = 0.75
  • Birth Control: Alpha = 0.81
  • Instrumentality: Alpha = 0.76

Test-retest reliability, evaluated over a four-week interval for the original HSAS, indicated satisfactory temporal stability, particularly for the Permissiveness (0.88) and Sexual Practices (0.80) subscales. The Communion (0.67) and Instrumentality (0.66) subscales demonstrated moderate, acceptable stability over the same period.

Factor Analysis

The foundation of the Sexual Attitudes Scale’s structure lies in the use of factor analysis, which was employed to empirically derive and confirm its multidimensionality. This analysis consistently revealed four primary, orthogonal factors, demonstrating conclusively that attitudes toward sexuality are not singular but rather complex and separable into distinct components.

In the original 43-item HSAS, the four identified factors were Permissiveness, Sexual Practices, Communion, and Instrumentality. The development of the 23-item BSAS maintained this four-factor structure while replacing the broad Sexual Practices subscale with the more focused Birth Control subscale, thereby optimizing the instrument for research efficiency. This robust and consistent factor structure supports the theoretical premise that individuals hold independent attitudes concerning motivation (emotional vs. physical) and context (casual vs. committed) for sexual behavior.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report inventory/Psychological measure

Format: 5-point Likert scale. Responses range from A = Strongly agree, B = Moderately agree, C = Neutral- neither agree or disagree, D = Moderately disagree, E = Strongly disagree.

Language Available: English (The original research was conducted in English, suggesting potential for translation in subsequent studies.)

Population Group: General population, primarily utilized in research involving dating or relationship samples.

Age Group: Typically used with late adolescents and adults, often drawn from college student populations or individuals in defined dating relationships.

Population Details: Originally validated using university student populations, with a focus on examining relational variables such as commitment and satisfaction.

Test Methodology: The scale is administered via pen-and-paper or online formats. Scoring involves calculating the mean score for items belonging to each of the four subscales. Items marked with an asterisk (*) in the HSAS long form are designated for reverse scoring.

Keywords

Sex research, psychometrics, scale development, HSAS, BSAS, dating relationships, attitude measurement, sexual behavior, commitment, intimacy, relational variables.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source content.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The original Hendrick Sexual Attitudes Scale (HSAS) was first published in 1987, followed by the Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale (BSAS) in 2006. As a published psychological research instrument, it is generally available for non-commercial academic use, provided that researchers adhere to appropriate citation standards for the original source material.

The entire instrument, including all items, can be located in a 2007 dissertation by Tammy Lowery Zacchilli (pages 167-168). The original PDF can be downloaded here: http://repositories.tdl.org/ttu-ir/bitstream/handle/2346/9978/Zacchilli_Tammy_Diss.pdf?sequence=1

Reference’s

• Hendrick, S.S., Hendrick, C., & Reich, D.A. (1985). Gender differences in sexual attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 48, 1630-1642.

• Hendrick, C., Hendrick, S. S. (1987). Multidimensionality of sexual attitudes. The Journal of Sex Research, 23(4), 502-526.

• Hendrick, Susan S. (1988). A Generic Measure of Relationship Satisfaction. Journal of Marriage and Family, 50(1), 93-98.

• Hendrick, C., Hendrick, S. S., & Reich, D. A. (2006). The Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale. The Journal of Sex Research, 43, 76-86.

• Tammy Lowery Zacchilli, (2007). The Relationship Between Conflict and Communication, Sex, Relationship Satisfaction, and other Relational Variables in Dating Relationships. A Dissertation In EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY. Texas Tech University.

• Fischer, Joel.‚ Corcoran, Kevin J. (2007). Measures for Clinical Practice and research: A sourcebook. (4th ed.). NY. Oxford University Pr. Vol. 1, Page (s): 106-108.

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Items of the Sexual Attitudes Scale

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

Brief Hendrick Sexual Attitudes Scale (BSAS) (2006)

1. I do not need to be committed to a person to have sex with him/her.
2. Casual sex is acceptable.
3. I would like to have sex with many partners.
4. One-night stands are sometimes very enjoyable.
5. It is okay to have ongoing sexual relationships with more than one person at a time.
6. Sex as a simple exchange of favors is okay if both people agree to it.
7. The best sex is with no strings attached.
8. Life would have fewer problems if people could have sex more freely.
9. It is possible to enjoy sex with a person and not like that person very much.
10. It is okay for sex to be just good physical release.
11. Birth control is part of responsible sexuality.
12. A woman should share responsibility for birth control.
13. A man should share responsibility for birth control.
14. Sex is the closest form of communication between two people.
15. A sexual encounter between two people deeply in love is the ultimate human interaction.
16. At its best‚ sex seems to be the merging of two souls.
17. Sex is a very important part of life.
18. Sex is usually an intensive‚ almost overwhelming experience.
19. Sex is best when you let yourself go and focus on your own pleasure.
20. Sex is primarily the taking of pleasure from another person.
21. The main purpose of sex is to enjoy oneself.
22. Sex is primarily physical.
23. Sex is primarily a bodily function‚ like eating.

Hendrick Sexual Attitudes Scale (HSAS) (1987)

1. I do not need to be committed to a person to have sex with him/her.
2. Casual sex is acceptable.
3. I would like to have sex with many partners.
4. One-night stands are sometimes very enjoyable.
5. It is okay to have ongoing sexual relationships with more than one person at a time.
6. It is OK to manipulate someone into ha‎ving sex as long as no future promises are made.
7. Sex as a simple exchange of favors is okay if both people agree to it.
8. The best sex is with no string attached.
9. Life would have fewer problems if people could have sex more freely.
10. It is possible to enjoy sex with a person and not like that person very much.
11. Sex is more fun with someone you don’t love.
12. It is all right to pressure someone into ha‎ving sex‚
13. Extensive premarital sexual experience is fine.
14. Extramarital affairs are all right as long as one’s partner doesn’t know about them.
15. Sex for its own sake is perfectly all right.
16. I would feel comfortable ha‎ving intercourse with my partner in the presence of other people.
17. Prostitution is acceptable.
18. It is okay for sex to be just good physical release.
19. Sex without love is meaningless.*
20. People should at least be friends before they have sex together.*
21. In order for sex to be good‚ it must also be meaningful.*
22. Birth control is part of responsible sexuality.
23. A woman should share responsibility for birth control.
24. A man should share responsibility for birth control.
25. Sex education is important for young people.
26. Using “sex toys” during lovemaking is acceptable.
27. Masturbation is all right.
28. Masturbation one’s partner during intercourse can increase the pleasure of sex.
29. Sex gets better as a relationship progresses.
30. Sex is the closest form of communication between two people.
31. A sexual encounter between two people deeply in love is the ultimate human interaction.
32. Orgasm is the greatest experience in the world.
33. At its best‚ sex seems to be the merging of two souls.
34. Sex is a very important part of life.
35. Sex is usually an intensive‚ almost overwhelming experience.
36. Sex is usually an intensive‚ almost overwhelming experience.
37. Sex is fundamentally good.
38. Sex is best when you let yourself go and focus on your own pleasure.
39. Sex is primarily the taking of pleasure from another person.
40. The main purpose of sex is to enjoy oneself.
41. Sex is primarily physical.
42. Sex is primarily a bodily function‚ like eating.
43. Sex is mostly a game between males and female.

* reverse score