title: The role of beliefs in sexual behavior of adolescents: Development and validation of an Adolescent Sexual Expectancies Scale (ASEXS).
abstract: This paper reports on the development and psychometric properties of the Adolescent Sexual Expectancies Scale (ASEXS). Data were obtained from three annual longitudinal surveys of youth aged 10 - 17 at the first administration (N= 932 at Wave 3). Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that four correlated factors corresponding to Social Risk, Social Benefit, Health Risk, and Pleasure adequately represented the expectancy items. High alpha coefficients and stability across survey waves indicated good internal and test-retest reliability for these factors. Latent variable autoregressive analyses indicated that Social Risk expectancies predicted changes in sexual behavior over the course of the study. Multi-group analyses established that the measurement and predictive models were equivalent for males and females and across age groups. The ASEXS provides researchers with a useful measure for examining adolescents' expectancy beliefs about the consequences of sexual behavior.
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 1995 University Avenue, Suite 450, Berkeley, CA 94704.
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bourdeau
authors.forename: Joel W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Grube
authors.forename: Melina M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Bersamin
authors.forename: Deborah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Fisher