A Sexual Arousal / Inhibition Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties in Iranian Women

According to the dual control model, sexual arousal depends on a person's readiness for sexual stimulation and inhibition. Individual diversity in sexual inhibition and arousal partly explains individual differences in arousal and experience of sexual problems. This study examines the psychometric properties of the Sexual Excitation / Sexual Inhibition Inventory for Men and Women (SESII-W / M) among Iranian women. For this purpose, a group of 172 married female employees, university lecturers and married students of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad were selected using the convenience sampling method, and they answered the questions of the Sexual Excitation / Sexual Inhibition Inventory, the Enrich Marital Satisfaction Scale and the Halbert Index of Sexual Desire Questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed through SPSS and Amos software using confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha and Pearson correlation coefficient. The findings revealed that the assumed 6-factor model (with the components inhibitory cognitions, important relationships, arousability, characteristics and behaviors of the spouse, relationship location, and couple elements of sexual interaction) of the SESII-W / M in the Iranian women's community has an acceptable fit with a slight adjustment (omission of questions 15 and 23), and its adaptive fit index (RMSEA = 0.05) and the standardized residual average (CFI = 0.91) were considered to be desirable. Also, Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the SESII-W / M questionnaire had an acceptable value, and the questionnaire had acceptable convergent and divergent validity indices (p < 0.001). The results show that the sexual arousal / inhibition questionnaire has acceptable validity and validity in the Iranian women's community of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.