Abstract
This study evaluated the validity of a revised measure of positive and negative psychosocial consequences of partnered sexual behaviors (Vasilenko et al., 2012) in a sample of 254 college students (85% women; 88% European American) aged 18–22 years (M = 19.48, SD = 1.22). Confirmatory factor analysis of a broad array of psychosocial consequences (e.g., feelings of satisfaction, emotional intimacy) indicated two subscales corresponding to positive and negative consequences. These factors demonstrated acceptable short-term stability, as well as construct validity in relation to several measures of sexual health and contextual factors (e.g., type of partner) that are logically related to psychosocial consequences of sex. The results suggest that this modified measure is sufficiently reliable and valid as an assessment of common consequences of sexual encounters. The findings also provide novel information on the individual, situational, and relational correlates of positive and negative consequences.
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Data Availability
Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.
Notes
We estimated all subsequent models with three versions of the consequences variables (i.e., with the “avoided angering partner” item specified as a positive item per Vasilenko et al. [2012], as a negative item as in the modified version, and with this item omitted entirely). While the factor loadings changed for this item, other coefficients were largely unchanged in the CFAs and in subsequent analyses described herein. Thus, we present the modified version with this item included on the negative consequence factor. Results of the other variations are available from the first author upon request.
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This research was supported by a grant from the Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Consortium at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to the second author and by funding from West Virginia University to the first and third authors.
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Conceptualization, methodology, investigation, funding acquisition, project administration, and supervision were performed by KLM and LJC. Formal analysis and visualization were performed by KLM and AP. The first draft of the manuscript was written by KLM, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Moilanen, K.L., Crockett, L.J. & Pierson, A. Beyond the Morning After: Measuring Positive and Negative Psychosocial Consequences of Sexual Encounters in Early Adulthood. Arch Sex Behav 52, 3081–3096 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02645-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02645-z