Development and Initial Validation of the Beliefs About Sexual Functioning Scale: A Gender Invariant Measure

Past research on cognitive models of sexual functioning has focused on sexual beliefs as an important vulnerability factor for sexual dysfunction. However, the existing measurements of sexual beliefs are lengthy and entangle beliefs about sexual functioning with moral beliefs and ideas about sexuality. Furthermore, they have female and male versions, which does not allow for sex comparisons or dyadic research with heterosexual couples.

To describe the development and validation of the Beliefs About Sexual Functioning Scale (BASEF), which assesses beliefs about sexual functioning in men and women.

This study included two cross-sectional online studies with adults in heterosexual dyadic committed and exclusive relationships. In study 1 (sample A, n = 274, mean age = 32.27 years; sample B, n = 114, mean age = 30.6 years), the factorial validity of the BASEF was analyzed through an exploratory factor analysis with an initial poll of 51 items, followed by a test of its structure in a confirmatory factor analysis. In study 2 (n = 426, mean age = 31.5 years), the factorial equivalence of the BASEF was tested across sexes and its association with total scores of sexual functioning was analyzed.

The main outcome was a new instrument for measurement of beliefs about sexual functioning.

In study 1, 15 items indicating 5 factors were retained. The structure was confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis, establishing its factorial validity with the five factors aggregated in a second-order latent variable. In study 2, the equivalence of the BASEF was demonstrated across sexes and its association with theoretically related measurements, the International Index of Erectile Function and the Female Sexual Function Index, was supported.

This new measurement could be useful to evaluate clients and design interventions that take into account similarity and discrepancy in sexual beliefs in couples, such as those interventions framed in cognitive and systemic clinical models.

This study presents a new measurement of beliefs about sexual functioning suited to address an equivalent set of beliefs for men and women. In future studies, the scale will be useful to compare the unique role of these same beliefs in the sexual outcomes of men and women. One major limitation is the lack of examination of the BASEF criterion validity with a clinical sample.

Results are indicative of a brief, valid, and reliable sex-invariant measurement of beliefs about sexual functioning that enables testing of cognitive models of sexual functioning in men and women in clinical and research settings. Pascoal PM, Alvarez M-J, Pereira CR, Nobre P. Development and Initial Validation of the Beliefs About Sexual Functioning Scale: A Gender Invariant Measure. J Sex Med 2017;14:613-623.