Handbook of Sexuality-Related Measures 3rd Edition

Book Preface

Research is fundamental to increasing the understanding of individual and societal sexual expression. Reliable and valid measurement is fundamental to sound research. Although there have been many questionnaires, scales, inventories, interview schedules, etc. developed to measure a myriad of sexuality-related states and traits, attitudes and behaviors, variations and deviations, in the past, relatively few of these were used sufficiently for their reliability and validity to have been firmly established. Instead, there was a tendency for researchers to reinvent the wheel when they had need of a sexuality-related measure.

For an instrument to be used, it must be available to the community of professionals in the field. In order to solve the problem of accessibility of scales, Clive M. Davis, William L. Yarber, and Sandra L. Davis edited and published Sexuality-Related Measures: A Compendium in 1988. Prior to the publication of this compendium, there was no easy or efficient way for researchers to learn about, evaluate, and compare instruments that had been previously used in sex research. Although this task has become easier with the advent of the Internet, tracking down available sexuality-related measures has remained a challenge.

The first edition, which consisted of 110 scales, was revised in 1998 by Davis, Yarber, and Davis, with the assistance of Robert Bauserman and George Schreer. The second edition, published by Sage, contained 225 scales. Since the previous edition, sex research has progressed, expanded, and transformed, but despite the increase in physiologically based measures there is still a great need for sound psychometric instruments.

In this third edition of the Handbook, we have included 218 scales, with some additional ones at the companion website for this volume, which may be found at http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415801751. However, because of the large expansion of the field, we have made the decision that this edition will focus more directly on solid sexuality-related measures. Therefore, we have eliminated a few categories of measures that were included in the previous two editions; for example, we have not included measures of abortion attitudes or of sex-role behavior. We have also eliminated a number of obsolete measures. This edition consists of 87 new scales, 43 revised entries from the previous edition, and 88 entries from the previous edition for which we did not receive a revision but which we chose to retain nonetheless.

Notable entries in this edition of the Handbook include revisions and updates of some well-established measures, scales that reflect expansions into sexual medicine, scales that have resulted from new theoretical constructs, and scales that reflect societal changes in attitudes toward women and toward homosexuality. As with the previous editions, there are a few instruments that are described only briefly, primarily because the author of the instrument was not able to provide us with a more complete paper. In some instances, we have been able to include only a sampling of items from the instrument. In most cases, this is because the instrument is sold commercially and restricted by copyright regulations. In these instances, details about how to obtain the instrument are included. Also, there are some instruments that will be known to many readers that are not mentioned at all. These are not included, unfortunately, because we were unable to obtain a response from the author(s) to our request for a paper or the necessary information. We welcome suggestions from readers about other instruments to include in future editions, and we invite authors to submit material without invitation. As this project has grown, it has become increasingly difficult to identify all of the available instruments and to track down the authors, so assistance from the community of sexual scientists and practitioners is most welcome.

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank all of those who have contributed to the third edition of this handbook. Without the authors of the more than 200 separate chapters contained herein, this edition could not have been produced. We also want to thank the many people who reported to us that they had found the first two editions very useful and encouraged us to undertake a revision. Without that support, it is unlikely we would have taken on the task again. We need to single out for special thanks Paul J. Loeber, who served as an editorial assistant and copyeditor on this project for an extended period of time, with little compensation other than his pride in a job well done. We also wish to acknowledge the support of The Ohio State University at Mansfield in providing workspace and supplies. Finally, we want to thank all of those at Routledge who have provided support and assistance in completing this project, most notably Steve Rutter and Leah Babb-Rosenfeld.
Terri D. Fisher Mansfield, Ohio
Clive M. Davis Syracuse, New York
William L. Yarber Bloomington, Indiana
Sandra L. Davis Syracuse, New York