Hurlbert Index of Sexual Assertiveness (Hurlbert, 1991)
- Populations: Adolescent girls young women; Adult women
- Age ranges: 14-19; Means 26.34 & 27.93
- Languages: French, English
- Countries: Canada; United States
Items
As reported; (Couture, Hébert, & Fernet, 2022)
Subscales
- Sexual needs and desires communication, 9 Items
- Refusal of unwanted sex, 3 Items
- Sexual intimcacy initiation, 3 Items
- Comfort talking about sex, 4 Items
- Taking charge of one’s own sexual pleasure, 3 Items
All Items
- I think I am open with my partner about my sexual needs
- I enjoy sharing my sexual fantasies with my partner
- I communicate my sexual desires to my partner
- I speak up for my sexual feelings
- It is hard for me to say no even when I do not want sex R
- I find myself having sex when I do not really want it R
- I find myself doing sexual things that I do not like R
- I approach my partner for sex when I desire it
- I feel comfortable giving sexyal praise to my partner
- I feel that I am shy when it comes to sex R
- I feel comfortable talking to my friends about sex
- I am reluctant to describe myself as a sexual person R
- I try to avoid discussing the subject of sex R
- It is difficult for me to touch myself during sex R
- I enjoy masturbating myself to orgam
- If something feels good, I insist on doing it again
Items marked R are reverse coded
Responses
Items use a 5 point Likert-type scale,
0 = Never, 1 = Rarely, 2 = sometimes, 3 = Often, 4 = Always
Scoring
“In its original form, a total score ranging from 0 to 100 is calculated, with higher scores reflecting greater sexual assertiveness.”
(Couture, Hébert, & Fernet, 2022)
Citations
Couture, S., Hébert, M., & Fernet, M. (2022). Validation of a French-Canadian adaptation of the Hurlbert Index of Sexual Assertiveness for adolescents. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681994.2022.2067981
Stéphanie Couture, Martine Hébert & Mylène Fernet (2024) Validation of a French-Canadian adaptation of the Hurlbert Index of Sexual Assertiveness for adolescents, Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 39:4, 1106-1123, DOI: 10.1080/14681994.2022.2067981
Hurlbert, D. F. (1991). The role of assertiveness in female sexuality: A comparative study between sexually assertive and sexually nonassertive women. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 17(3), 183–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/00926239108404342
Pierce, A. P., & Hurlbert, M. K. (1999). Test-retest reliability of the Hurlbert Index of Sexual Assertiveness. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 88(1), 31–34. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1999.88.1.31
Scoring breakdown
Measure development
- Significant design input from young people
- Cognitive interviews with young people
- Expert input
Validity
- Unknown: Face validity
- Green: Convergent validity
- Green: Construct validity
Reliability
- Green: Internal consistency
- Green: 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
