Abstract

Two experiments were conducted with the goal of developing an assessment tool to evaluate the psychological and subjective experience of sexual arousal and desire. The first experiment included a three-questionnaire inventory that was filled out by 85 men and 156 women. Subjects provided demographic information in the first questionnaire and then rated 86 descriptors as they applied to their experience of arousal and desire separately on 0-5 point Liken scales on the second and third questionnaires. Results showed that men and women rated their subjective experiences of arousal and desire in similar ways and that subjects failed to differentiate between these two phases of the sexual response cycle. Principle component analysis (PCA) also indicated that the subjective experience of arousal and desire could be described comprehensively by three main factors, including a cognitive-emotional, a motivational, and a physiological factor. A fourth negative control factor was also extracted that reflected dimensions of aversion or inhibition. The second experiment consisted of a two-questionnaire inventory in which only those descriptors with means Y2.5 or X1.0, and/or with factor loadings Y3.00, were retained. Eighty-two men and 154 women provided demographic information in the first questionnaire, and rated the 54 descriptors retained for arousal and desire in a single questionnaire using the same 0-5 point Likert scale. The same three main factors and the negative control factor were extracted through a second PCA. Results also indicated that, in general, both sexes rated their subjective experiences in similar ways, with the exception of certain items which males and females rated in opposite directions.