Women's scores on the Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scales (SIS/SES): Gender similarities and differences

The Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scales (SIS/SES) assess individual propensities
to become sexually aroused and to inhibit arousal. Prior analyses of men’s SIS/SES data
(Janssen, Vorst, Finn, & Bancroft, 2002a) yielded one excitation factor (SES) and two
inhibitory factors (SIS1/Threat of Performance Failure and SIS2/Threat of Performance
Consequences). The current study utilized a dataset of 2,045 undergraduates (1,067 women and 978 men) to examine the psychometric properties of women’s SIS/SES
scores.
Women scored higher on sexual inhibition and lower on sexual excitation compared with
men. The convergent/discriminant validity of women’s SIS/SES scores globally resembled
men’s, but showed stronger associations with other sexualityrelated measures and less
pronounced relationships with measures of general behavioral approach/avoidance. The
test-retest reliability of men’s and women’s SIS/SES scores were similar, but individual items exhibited differential relevance to men’s and women’s arousal. An exploratory factor analysis of women’s scores was utilized to further examine shared and unshared themes.