Published work has pointed to the need for the development of a psychometrically sound measure of sexual orientation in order to enable empirical research in this area to advance. Such a measure could contribute towards greater standardization of an operational definition of sexual orientation necessary for comparison of results in otherwise similarly focused research studies in future. To contribute to this process, a new questionnaire, the Sexual Responsiveness Scale (SRS), which takes cognizance of existing measures, was developed and its psychometric properties examined. The SRS complies with the criteria of a ‘new paradigm’ conceptualization of sexual orientation and therefore measures same and opposite sex responsiveness separately, eliciting both intensity and frequency responses over the entire lifespan as well as over the most recent 30 days. Sexual responsiveness as manifested in fantasy, attraction, contact, and emotion is assessed. The scale was completed by a convenience sample of 835 South African adolescents and young adults.
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