Development and initial validation of the verbal and nonverbal sexual communication questionnaire in Canada and Spain

ABSTRACT

Verbal and nonverbal sexual communication helps couples develop a mutually satisfying sexual script. This research, composed of two studies, was aimed at developing a scale in English and Spanish that assesses verbal and nonverbal sexual communication. The English and the Spanish versions showed the same factorial structure (Verbal Sexual Communication, Nonverbal Sexual Initiation and Pleasure, and Nonverbal Sexual Refusal). All subscales showed good internal consistency and validity, except for the Nonverbal Sexual Refusal that was, for the most part, not correlated with the other communication scales and was negatively correlated with sexual satisfaction. The implications and applicability of the Verbal and Nonverbal Sexual Communication Questionnaire in clinical and research settings are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual communication
• verbal communication
• nonverbal communication
• reliability
• validity

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Kerri Gibson, Leah Levac, Kristelle Saughnessy, Kaitlyn Hill, and Lyndsay Foster for their helpful comments. Also thanks to Kaitlyn Hill for her help collecting data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pablo Santos-Iglesias

Dr. Pablo Santos-Iglesias received his Ph.D. in Psychology from University of Granada (Spain). He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at University of Calgary. Pablo's research focuses on factors, such as sexual communication, affecting sexual well-being. He is also interested in Psychometric Theory and development and validation of sexuality-related measures.

E. Sandra Byers

Dr. E. Sandra Byers received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from West Virginia University. She is currently Full Professor and Chair in the Department of Psychology at University of New Brunswick. Sandra's research focuses in the area of human sexuality, including research on sexual satisfaction, factors affecting sexual well-being, sexual communication, sexual dysfunction, sex education, sexual violence, and cross-cultural study of human sexuality.