Sexual Risk Survey

Abstract

The Sexual Risk Survey (SRS) is a specialized psychological instrument designed to provide a broad and psychometrically sound measure of sexual risk-taking behavior, specifically targeting the college student population. Developed by Jessica A. Turchik and John P. Garske in 2009, the SRS was created to address limitations in existing measures that were often too narrowly focused or lacked adequate validation for use with young adults. The initial pool consisted of 37 items, which were refined using descriptive analyses and a principal components analysis. The final, comprehensive version of the SRS comprises 23 items that assess the frequency of various sexual risk behaviors over the preceding six months.

Keywords

Sexual risk, college students, psychometrics, risk behavior, principal components analysis, sexual health, risk assessment.

Authors

Jessica A. Turchik, John P. Garske

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Sexual Risk Survey (SRS) is to scientifically investigate and quantify the significant problem of risky sexual behavior prevalent among college students. It was developed to overcome the shortcomings of prior instruments, which often failed to capture the full spectrum of risk-taking behaviors relevant to this demographic or lacked robust psychometric support.

The scale provides researchers with a reliable and validated tool to assess the frequency of specific risky behaviors across a six-month interval, enabling longitudinal studies and targeted interventions aimed at improving sexual health outcomes in young adulthood.

Construct

The SRS measures the multidimensional psychological construct of Sexual Risk Taking. This construct is defined by the frequency of engaging in behaviors that increase the likelihood of negative outcomes, such as unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), or emotional distress (e.g., regret). The total score represents a general index of sexual risk taking.

A principal components analysis revealed that the overall construct is composed of five distinct, scorable subscales:

• Sexual Risk Taking With Uncommitted Partners (8 items)
• Risky Sex Acts (5 items)
• Impulsive Sexual Behaviors (5 items)
• Intent to Engage in Risky Sexual Behaviors (2 items)
• Risky Anal Sex Acts (3 items)

Validity

The SRS has demonstrated strong evidence for several forms of validity, supporting its use as a measure of sexual risk-taking behavior. Content validity was established during development through a thorough review of existing literature, examination of previous measures, and input from a pilot study involving college students, ensuring the items comprehensively cover the domain of risky sexual behavior.

Furthermore, the SRS showed evidence of both convergent and concurrent validity. These were supported by the measure’s significant relationships with other established scales that were theoretically predicted to correlate with sexual risk behaviors. The instrument also demonstrated discriminant validity, exhibiting low correlations with measures suchating social desirability and sexual threat of disclosure, confirming that the SRS measures the unique construct of interest rather than confounding variables.

Reliability

The Sexual Risk Survey exhibits strong internal consistency and high test-retest reliability, confirming its stability and coherence. The internal consistency for the total 23-item scale was excellent, measured at a Cronbach’s alpha of .88.

Internal consistency across the five subscales ranged from acceptable to excellent:

• Sexual Risk Taking With Uncommitted Partners: .88
• Risky Sex Acts: .80
• Impulsive Sexual Behaviors: .78
• Intent to Engage in Risky Sexual Behaviors: .89
• Risky Anal Sex Acts: .61

The 2-week test-retest reliability for the total SRS was very high (.93). Subscale test-retest reliabilities were also robust, ranging from .58 (Risky Anal Sex Acts) to .90 (Sexual Risk Taking With Uncommitted Partners). Notably, the psychometric properties of the total scale remained unaffected by the inclusion or exclusion of the Risky Anal Sex Act items.

Factor Analysis

The final 23-item structure of the SRS was derived from an initial pool of 37 items, using descriptive analyses and a principal components analysis with varimax rotation. Items were systematically eliminated if they demonstrated insufficient response frequency (below 10%), low item-total correlations (below .40), low communalities (below .40), or low factor loadings (below .40).

The resulting 23 items loaded onto five distinct factors, which serve as the scale’s subscales. Researchers can utilize these five subscales—Sexual Risk Taking With Uncommitted Partners, Risky Sex Acts, Impulsive Sexual Behaviors, Intent to Engage in Risky Sexual Behaviors, and Risky Anal Sex Acts—to assess specific facets of sexual risk behavior.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report frequency measure / Psychometric scale

Format: Paper-and-pencil self-administered survey (Group setting possible); also validated for individual-structured interview format.

Language Available: English (Original research)

Population Group: College students (Undergraduate)

Age Group: Typically late adolescence/young adulthood (consistent with undergraduate enrollment)

Population Details: The scale was standardized using a sample of 613 male and female undergraduate students from a midsized midwestern university.

Test Methodology: Participants indicate, in a free-response format, the number of times they engaged in each of the 23 listed sexual risk behaviors over the past six months. Completion time is typically 5 to 10 minutes. Scoring requires recoding or transformation (such as logarithmic or inverse transformation) due to the typically positively skewed nature of sexual risk-taking frequency data. In the original study, raw numbers were recoded into ordinal categories (0 to 4) before summing all 23 items for a total risk score (ranging 0-92).

Keywords

Sexual behavior, risk taking, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, psychometric properties, convergent validity, discriminant validity.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected] (Jessica A. Turchik)

Correspondence Address: Jessica A. Turchik, Ohio University, 200 Porter Hall, Athens, OH 45701

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 2009 (Based on publication date of foundational article).

Permissions and Fees: Researchers should contact the first author, Jessica A. Turchik, for permissions regarding use of the measure, including access to the original glossary of terms necessary for accurate administration.

Reference’s

Turchik, J. A., & Garske, J. P. (2009). Measurement of sexual risk taking among college students. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38, 936–948.

Items of the Sexual Risk Survey

Instructions: Please read the following statements and record the number that is true for you over the past six months for each ques- tion on the blank. If you do not know for sure how many times a behavior took place, try to estimate the number as close as you can. Thinking about the average number of times the behavior happened per week or per month might make it easier to estimate an accurate number, especially if the behavior happened fairly regularly. If you’ve had multiple partners, try to think about how long you were with each partner, the number of sexual encounters you had with each, and try to get an accurate estimate of the total number of each behavior. If the question does not apply to you or you have never engaged in the behavior in the question, put a “0” on the blank. Please do not leave items blank. Remember that in the following questions “sex” includes oral, anal, and vaginal sex and that “sexual behavior” includes passionate kissing, making out, fondling, petting, oral-to-anal stimulation, and hand- to-genital stimulation. Refer to the Glossarya for any words you are not sure about. Please consider only the last six months when answering and please be honest.

In the past six months:

1.        How many partners have you engaged in sexual behavior with but not had sex with?

2.        How many times have you left a social event with someone you just met?

3.        How many times have you “hooked up” but not had sex with someone you didn’t know or didn’t know well?

4.        How many times have you gone out to bars/parties/social events with the intent of “hooking up” and engaging in sexual behav- ior but not having sex with someone?

5.        How many times have you gone out to bars/parties/social events with the intent of “hooking up” and having sex with some- one?

6.        How many times have you had an unexpected and unanticipated sexual experience?

7.        How many times have you had a sexual encounter you engaged in willingly but later regretted?

   For the next set of questions, follow the same direction as before. However, for questions 8–23, if you have never had sex (oral, anal, or vaginal), please put a “0” on each blank.

8.        How many partners have you had sex with?

9.        How many times have you had vaginal intercourse without a latex or polyurethane condom? Note: Include times when you have used a lambskin or membrane condom.

10.        How many times have you had vaginal intercourse without protection against pregnancy?

11.        How many times have you given or received fellatio (oral sex on a man) without a condom?

12.        How many times have you given or received cunnilingus (oral sex on a woman) without a dental dam or “adequate protection” (please see definition of dental dam for what is considered adequate protection)?

13.        How many times have you had anal sex without a condom?

14.        How many times have you or your partner engaged in anal penetration by a hand (“fisting”) or other object without a latex glove or condom followed by unprotected anal sex?

15.        How many times have you given or received analingus (oral stimulation of the anal region, “rimming”) without a dental dam or “adequate protection” (please see definition of dental dam for what is considered adequate protection)?

16.        How many people have you had sex with that you know but are not involved in any sort of relationship with (i.e., “friends with benefits,” “fuck buddies”)?

17.        How many times have you had sex with someone you don’t know well or just met?

18.        How many times have you or your partner used alcohol or drugs before or during sex?

19.        How many times have you had sex with a new partner before discussing sexual history, IV drug use, disease status and other current sexual partners?‌

20.        How many times (that you know of) have you had sex with someone who has had many sexual partners?

21.        How many partners (that you know of) have you had sex with who had been sexually active before you were with them but had not been tested for STIs/HIV?

22.        How many partners have you had sex with that you didn’t trust?

23.        How many times (that you know of) have you had sex with someone who was also engaging in sex with others during the same time period?

aThe Glossary is available upon request from Jessica A. Turchik.