The scaling of premarital sexual permissiveness revisited: test results of Reiss's new short form version.
A new four-item version of the widely used Reiss Premarital Sexual Permissiveness (PSP) Scale is described and analyzed. The purpose of our research was to see if this much quicker to answer format will equal the high scaling attributes of the earlier and longer versions. Samples of students from the United States (N = 217) and Sweden (N = 186) were administered the short form. The analysis and data are presented and compared with the results of the original, longer versions of the scale. Results indicated that the four-item version met all Guttman scale requirements. Comparisons among scales indicated that criteria measurement scores were higher for the four-item version than they were for Reiss's earlier versions. The ways in which the new scale may be used are discussed, including the possible use of only one or two items from this new format as a quick and accurate attitudinal assessment of premarital sexual permissiveness.
Schwartz
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Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11550-1090, USA.
Reiss
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003380:Courtship; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008149:Love; D010541:Permissiveness; D011594:Psychometrics; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D013548:Sweden; D014481:United States