Abstinence Motivation Scale-Sex (Johnson, 2013)

Internal and external reasons driving sexual abstinence in adolescents; 24 items / 6 item subscales, Ages 15-18

Populations: Adolescents
Age ranges: 15-18
Languages: English

Items

Subscales

External, 6 Items
Introjected, 6 Items
Identified, 6 Items
Integrated, 6 Items

Item Stem:

“Below is a list of reasons why some people would abstain from sex (in other words, reasons why people would not have sexual intercourse). Most people have more than one reason, so please respond to each statement based on how much the statement represents a reason you would not engage in sex.”

Items by Subscale

External

Because I could get in trouble with my parents.
Because I worry my parents would get upset.
Because my parents would not be pleased if I did have sex.
Because my parents would disapprove of me having sex.
Because my parents would get mad at me for having sex.
Because that’s the rule in our family.

Introjected

Because I would feel guilty for having sex.
Because I would feel awful for having sex.
Because I would feel ashamed for having sex.
Because I would feel embarrassed for having sex.
Because I would feel like a failure for having sex.
Because I can only feel good about myself if I do not have sex.

Identified

Because I believe sexual abstinence is the responsible thing to do.
Because sexual abstinence is personally important to me.
Because I have strong values regarding sexual abstinence.
Because I believe it is important to be sexually abstinent.
Because I believe it is the right thing to do.
Because I personally value the benefits of staying away from sex.

Integrated

Because sexual abstinence is consistent with what I value most in life.
Because being sexually abstinent is consistent with my life goals.
Because being sexually abstinent is important to my sense of identity.
Because being sexually abstinent reflects what I value most in life.
Because sexual abstinence is part of the way I’ve chosen to live my life.
Because sexual abstinence is an important part of my identity.

Responses

Items used a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (not at all a reason for me) to 5 (totally a reason for me)

Scoring

Not reported

Citations

Johnson, N. (2013). Development and validation of the abstinence motive scale [Master’s thesis, Brigham Young University]. BYU ScholarsArchive. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3686.

Scoring breakdown

Measure development

Significant design input from young people
Cognitive interviews with young people
Expert input

Validity

Green: Face validity
Green: Convergent validity
Green: Construct validity

Reliability

Green: Internal consistency
Unknown: Test-retest

Ease of use

Unknown: Readability

Definitions

Face validity: How well a measure appears to represent the construct it is supposed to be measuring.

Convergent validity: How well a measure correlates with other hypothetically-related measures.

Construct validity: The extent to which a measure reflects the construct it was designed to evaluate.

Internal consistency: The extent to which items in a scale capture aspects of the same construct.

Test-retest: The degree to which measurement scores are consistent over a short period of time (usually 2 weeks).

Readability: The ease with which a reader can understand the questionnaire items.

Key

Green: Meets validation criteria
Red: Does not meet validation criteria
Unknown: Evidence not available