An Indirect Measure of Implicit Sexual Assertiveness: Reliability and Validity of the Sexual Assertiveness IAT in Young Adults in The Netherlands

Figures & data

Table 1. Sequence of Trial Blocks in the SA-IAT.

Block	No. of trials	Function	Items assigned to left-key response	Items assigned to right-key response
1	16	Attribute practice	Sexually Assertive (8)	Sexually Compliant (8)
2	16	Practice	Sexually Assertive (4) + I (4)	Sexually Compliant (4) + Other (4)
3	48	Test	Sexually Assertive (12) + I (12)	Sexually Compliant (12) + Other (12)
4	16	Practice	Sexually Assertive (4) + Other (4)	Sexually Compliant (4) + I (4)
5	48	Test	Sexually Assertive (12) + Other (12)	Sexually Compliant (12) + I (12)

Note. For half the subjects, the positions of Blocks 2 and 3 were switched with those of Blocks 4 and 5, respectively.

SA-IAT = Implicit Association Test measuring implicit sexual assertiveness.

Table 2. Demographic Characteristics.

	Men (M(SD); %)	Women (M(SD); %)
Age	21.9 (1.9)	22.1 (1.9)
Education Level
Lower	6.9	3.8
Intermediate	65.2	55.0
Higher	27.9	41.2
Relationship Status*
Single	39.2	28.4
Dating	23.3	6.2
Committed Relationship	34.9	64.2
Married	2.3	1.2

* : χ² (3) = 12.531, p < .01.

Table 3. Means and Standard Deviations among Young Men and Women

	Young men (n = 43)		Young women (n = 81)		Full Sample (n = 124)
	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
Implicit Sexual Assertiveness (SA-IAT; seconds)**	.25	.39	.05	.37	.12	.39
Explicit Sexual Assertiveness (HISA Initiation)	2.97	.73	2.82	.94	2.87	.88
Explicit Sexual Assertiveness (HISA Refusal)*	3.12	.52	2.86	.76	2.95	.70
Extraversion (EPQ-R)	8.93	3.14	7.88	2.96	8.24	3.05
Neuroticism (EPQ-R)*	4.42	3.02	5.84	3.25	5.35	3.23
Social Desirability (EPQ-R)*	4.53	2.34	5.69	2.37	5.29	2.42

* p < .05; **p < .01;

HISA: Adapted Hurlbert Index of Sexual Assertiveness; EPQ: Eysenck Personality Questionnaire

Table 4. Bivariate Correlations with Implicit and Explicit Sexual Assertiveness in the Full Sample and the Female and Male Subsamples.

		I	II		IV
Method	Trait/Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6
Full Sample (n = 124)
I. Implicit Sexual Assertiveness (SA-IAT	1. D600 test trials	r tt = .70
II. Explicit Sexual Assertiveness (HISA)	2 Initiation	.08	(.77)
	3 Refusal	.15	.67**	(.72)
III. Personality (EPQ-R)	4 Extraversion	.26**	.15	.21*	–
	5 Neuroticism	-.16	-.18	-.26**	-.19*	(.81)
	6 Social Desirability	-.06	.05	.13	-.12	-.18	(.64)
Male (lower left panel; N = 43) \ Female (upper right panel; N = 81)
I. Implicit Sexual Assertiveness (SA-IAT	1. D600 test trials	–	.08	.17	.26*	-.15	-.00
II. Explicit Sexual Assertiveness (HISA)	2 Initiation	-.00	–	.68**	.20	-.23*	.10
	3 Refusal	-.03	.64**	–	.29*	-.28*	.17
III. Personality (EPQ-R)	4 Extraversion	.12	-.11	-.16	–	-.13	-.10
	5 Neuroticism	-.05	.06	-.06	-.22	–	-.30**
	6 Social Desirability	.00	-.01	.20	.01	-.08	–

r_tt = Split-half reliability for the test trials after correction for attenuation; * = p < .05; ** = p < .01; Other numbers in parentheses on the main diagonal denote Cronbach’s alphas.

Table 5. Hierarchical Linear Regression of Gender, Explicit Sexual Assertiveness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Social Desirability, and the Interactions of These Predictors with Gender on Implicit Sexual Assertiveness.

	B	SE	Beta	t	p	95% CI
Step 1 R^2 = .13, F(6, 104) = 2.63, p = .020
(Constant)	.443	.144		3.078	.003	.158	.728
Gender	−.187	.083	−.223	−2.251	.026	−.352	−.022
Explicit Sexual Assertiveness (HISA-Initiation)	−.023	.050	−.057	−.452	.652	−.121	.076
Explicit Sexual Assertiveness (HISA-Refusal)	.036	.051	.092	.701	.485	−.066	.138
Extraversion (EPQ-R)	.071	.038	.180	1.857	.066	−.005	.147
Neuroticism (EPQ-R)	−.029	.039	−.074	−.743	.459	−.107	.048
Social Desirability (EPQ-R)	−.005	.039	−.013	−.137	.892	−.082	.071
Step 2 R^2 Change = .005, F(11, 99) = 1.43, p = .17
(Constant)	.483	.164		2.939	.004	.157	.809
Gender	−.206	.092	−.245	−2.242	.027	−.387	−.024
Explicit Sexual Assertiveness (HISA-Initiation)	−.013	.261	−.032	−.048	.962	−.531	.506
Explicit Sexual Assertiveness (HISA-Refusal)	.005	.255	.011	.018	.986	−.501	.510
Extraversion (EPQ-R)	.125	.120	.318	1.045	.299	−.113	.364
Neuroticism (EPQ-R)	−.084	.121	−.213	−.693	.490	−.325	.157
Social Desirability (EPQ-R)	−.020	.120	−.050	−.164	.870	−.258	.219
Gender * Explicit Sexual Assertiveness (HISA-Initiation)	−.006	.139	−.028	−.043	.966	−.282	.270
Gender * Explicit Sexual Assertiveness (HISA-Refusal)	.015	.137	.069	.107	.915	−.258	.287
Gender * Extraversion (EPQ-R)	−.086	.178	−.147	−.485	.629	−.440	.267
Gender * Neuroticism (EPQ-R)	.082	.176	.143	.469	.640	−.266	.431
Gender * Social Desirability (EPQ-R)	.022	.175	.038	.125	.901	−.325	.369