title: Validation of the McCoy Female Sexuality Questionnaire in an Italian sample.
abstract: This article presents the result of a study that translated into Italian and validated the McCoy Female Sexuality Questionnaire (MFSQ) on an Italian sample. The questionnaire was first administered to a sample of 240 Italian women (age range, 18-65 years) recruited from a gynecology clinic. A principal component analysis identified 2 factors: sexuality (9 items) and partnership (5 items). Both factors showed an adequate inter-item reliability (Cronbach's alpha of .88 and .75, respectively). The validity of the Italian MFSQ was then tested by administering the questionnaire to a sample of 16 women with sexual dysfunction and 46 control women. Sexual dysfunction diagnoses were assessed through a semi-standardized interview based on the DSM-IV-TR diagnoses for Female Sexual Arousal Disorder, Female Orgasmic Disorder, Dyspareunia, and Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder. A discriminant validity test showed significant differences between women with and without female sexual dysfunction. These results indicate that the translated version of the MFSQ is a reliable and valid measure of sexual dysfunction among Italian women. The results also indicated a difference in factor structure between the Italian and the original version of the MFSQ, which warrants further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.
authors.forename: Alessandra H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Rellini
authors.forename: Rossella E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Nappi
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vaccaro
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferdeghini
authors.forename: Ileana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Abbiati
authors.forename: Cindy M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Meston
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003075:Coitus; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D007989:Libido; D008593:Menopause; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D020018:Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health