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Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy Volume 46, 2020 - Issue 2
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Articles

Development and Validation of a Measure of Responsive Sexual Desire

Julia VeltenMental Health Research and Treatment Center, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany;
,
Samantha J. DawsonDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada;
,
Kelly SuschinskyDepartment of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada;
,
Lori A. BrottoDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
&
Meredith L. ChiversDepartment of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Correspondence[email protected]
ORCID Iconhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-5495-9263
ORCID Icon
Pages 122-140 | Published online: 11 Sep 2019
 
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Abstract

According to the incentive motivation model, sexual desire does not occur spontaneously but can be triggered by sexual stimuli and stems from one’s experience of sexual arousal. Until now, research into responsive sexual desire has been challenged by the lack of measures capturing desire that emerges following sexual arousal. The aim of this study was to validate the 18-item Report of Behavior and Feelings–Desire (RBF-D) scale in a sample of 291 women (Mage = 22.41, SD = 5.82) with varying degrees of sexual desire. Items on the RBF-D were selected to reflect 5 aspects of responsive sexual desire: sexual activity with a primary partner, sexual desire for a primary partner, sexual activity with other persons, sexual desire for other persons, and autoerotic activities. A 5-factor solution was confirmed via exploratory structural equation modeling. Internal consistency of 4 out of 5 factors was good. Convergent validity was established via small to medium associations of the RBF-D factors with other measures of sexual desire. Low and nonsignificant correlations with depression and sexual inhibition supported the discriminant validity. The RBF-D is a valid and reliable measure that can be useful in clinical and research settings where assessment of responsive sexual desire and behavior is needed.

Acknowledgments

We declare that we have no competing interests.

Statement of authorship

Category 1

  1. Conception and Design

    Julia Velten, Samantha J. Dawson, Kelly Suschinsky, Lori A. Brotto, Meredith L. Chivers

  2. Analysis of Data

    Julia Velten, Meredith Chivers

  3. Interpretation of Data

    Julia Velten, Samantha J. Dawson, Kelly Suschinsky, Lori A. Brotto, Meredith L. Chivers

Category 2

  1. Drafting the Article

    Julia Velten, Samantha J. Dawson, Kelly Suschinsky, Lori A. Brotto, Meredith L. Chivers

  2. Revising it Critically for Important Intellectual Content

    Julia Velten, Samantha J. Dawson, Kelly Suschinsky, Lori A. Brotto, Meredith L. Chivers

Category 3

  1. Final Approval of the Version to be Published

    Julia Velten, Samantha J. Dawson, Kelly Suschinsky, Lori A. Brotto, Meredith L. Chivers

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