Positive Sexuality among Adolescents Scale (Maes et al., 2023)

• Populations: Canadian Adolescents
• Age ranges: 12-18
• Languages: English
• Countries: Canada

Items

Subscales:

• positive approach to sexual relationships
• resilience against challenging sexually-related experiences
• one’s own control over sexual interactions
• respectful approach to different sexual expressions
• acceptance of one’s own sexuality control over sexual interactions

Positive approach to sexual relationships 

• I think it is important that a partner feels safe when we’re being intimate 
• I only want to approach a partner respectfully (e.g., if I want to kiss my partner, but they don’t want to, I would stop trying)
• If I would be intimate with someone, I think it is important that we both enjoy the experience I would make sure that my partner is satisfied when we are intimate 
• I think it is important that, during an intimate activity, my partner can say “no” when they do not want to do something
• Even though I am hoping for an intimate moment with someone (e.g., a kiss with my crush), If they don’t want to, I would show respect for this decision (e.g., I do not force them to do something)
• If I would have questions about my sexuality or my relationship, I would expect to talk about this openly with my partner

Resilience against challenging sexuality-related experiences

• If my friends would tease me about my sexual feelings or experiences (e.g., they criticize the appearance of my crush), I would try to distract myself by doing something fun (e.g., practicing my hobby)
• If my friends would tease me about my sexual feelings or experiences (e.g., they pressure me into having sex), then I would try to think about things that can cheer me up
• If my friends would tease me about my sexual feelings or experiences (e.g, they criticize the appearance of my crush), then I would distract myself by thinking about something positive
• If I would have a negative experience with a partner or crush (e.g. my girlfriend/boyfriend breaks up with me), then I would distract myself by thinking about something positive
• If I would have a negative experience with a partner or crush (e.g. my girlfriend/boyfriend breaks up with me), I would try to distract myself by doing something fun (for ex., practicing my hobby)

One’s own control over sexual interactions

• If someone would force me to do something intimate, I think I can say “no” if I don’t want to 
• I would be able to say no during an intimate activity, even though I first gave the impression that I did want to be intimate (e.g., I was flirting, but I don’t want to go any further)

Respectful approach to different sexual expressions

• I respect that two people of the same gender can fall in love
• Boys can only fall in love with girls, and girls can only fall in love with boys (reverse)
• I understand that some people don’t know why yet who they are attracted to (e.g., attracted to a boy, a girl, or both.
• Everyone has different sexual desires (e.g., some people are turned on by individuals of the same gender), this is unique for every person (e.g., you shouldn’t laugh at this person)

Acceptance of one’s own sexuality

• It is all right to discover yourself in a sexual way 
• It seems normal that I feel sexually aroused sometimes 
• I enjoy exploring my sexual feelings and desires (e.g., fantasizing about my crush) 

Responses:

Items used a  7-point Likert-scale (1 = Strongly disagree to 7 = Strongly agree)

Scoring

not reported

Citations

Chelly Maes, Jolien Trekels, Emily Impett & Laura Vandenbosch (2023) The Development of the Positive Sexuality in Adolescence Scale (PSAS), The Journal of Sex Research, 60:1, 45-61, DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2021.2011826