Sexual sensation seeking: scale development and predicting AIDS-risk behavior among homosexually active men. J Pers Assess 1994 Jun;62(3):385-97
Date
06/01/1994Pubmed ID
8027907DOI
10.1207/s15327752jpa6203_1Scopus ID
2-s2.0-0028452110 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 473 CitationsAbstract
Sensation seeking, the propensity to prefer exciting, optimal, and novel stimulation or arousal, is a potential mediating factor in sexual risk for human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV), the cause of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). However, the most widely used measure of sensation seeking, the Sensation Seeking Scale (Zuckerman, Kolin, Price, & Zoob, 1964), contains numerous culturally outdated items and items that do not pertain to sexual behavior. In this study, 106 homosexually active men completed newly developed measures of sensation seeking related to sexual and nonsexual experiences, as well as a measure of sexual compulsivity. Results show that the new scales were internally consistent and time-stable. Additional analyses demonstrated convergent, divergent, and discriminant validity for these scales, showing them to be of use as mediating variables in models of high-risk sexual behavior. Implications for HIV prevention and behavior change are discussed.
Author List
Kalichman SC, Johnson JR, Adair V, Rompa D, Multhauf K, Kelly JAAuthor
Jeffrey A. Kelly PhD Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Acquired Immunodeficiency SyndromeAdolescent
Adult
Aged
Condoms
HIV Seropositivity
Homosexuality
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Reproducibility of Results
Risk-Taking
Sex Factors
Sexual Behavior