Sexual Satisfaction Scale for Women: a study with Portuguese women with and without sexual difficulties

Abstract

Sexual satisfaction is considered a sexual health indicator, closely linked to sexual distress, and subsequently, to sexual problems, in women. The Sexual Satisfaction Scale for Women (SSS-W) was developed for assessing sexual satisfaction and distress in women, and principal component analysis support a five-factor structure (Contentment, Communication, Compatibility, Relational Concern, and Personal Concern). Our goal was to translate and validate the SSS-W for Portuguese women. For that purpose, participants completed the SSS-W, the Female Sexual Functioning Index (FSFI), and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. A sample constituted by 329 women was collected through an online survey (56 women with sexual difficulties according to the FSFI cutoff score). According to confirmatory factor analysis, a five-factor model fits the Portuguese version of the SSS-W, which supports the original factorial structure. Reliability, as well as concurrent, convergent, and discriminant validity have shown good to excellent values. In sum, Portuguese version of the SSS-W provides relevant clinical information on sexual satisfaction, namely communication, contentment, and compatibility dimensions, as well as concerns on personal and relational topics. Moreover, current findings suggested that the Portuguese version of the SSS-W presented adequate psychometric properties and its use as valid and reliable measure for assessing sexual satisfaction in women is recommended.

Keywords:

• Sexual distress
• sexual satisfaction
• translation
• validation
• women

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Maria Manuela Peixoto has a PhD in Psychology, is a certified Sex Therapist, a licensed Clinical and Health Psychologist, and a researcher at the Psychology Research Center at Minho University, Portugal.

Hugo Gomes has a Master in Psychocriminology and is a PhD Student at Minho University & Cambridge University. Adriana Correia has a Master degree in Applied Psychology by University of Minho.

Adriana Correia has a Master degree in Applied Psychology by University of Minho.

Paulo P. P. Machado has a PhD in Clinical Psychology, is a Professor at School of Psychology, University of Minho, also is the President of School of Psychology, Minho University, and the President Elect for the Society for Psychotherapy Research.

Additional information

Funding

This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653).