A critical appraisal of how to employ – or not to employ – the Sexual Risk Survey in international populations

Introduction • In 2009, Turchik and Gaske constructed the Sexual Risk Survey (SRS), a self-administered material intended to assess the applicability of 23 statements related to five dimensions of sexual risk-taking behaviors. • Yet, despite Turchik et al. emphasizing that the validity and reliability evidence of the Sexual Risk Survey (SRS) had only been evaluated in populations of college students in the United States of America and urging that its applicability to other populations be investigated, a considerable body of research articles has employed the material in other populations without the prerequisite examination of its validity and reliability evidence. • Therefore, examination of the internal structure validity and internal consistency reliability evidence of the Sexual Risk Survey (SRS) with data from different populations is warranted. Methods • We examined the internal structure validity and internal consistency reliability evidence of the Sexual Risk Survey (SRS) with data from international populations (N = 81,060, 57% of which identified as cisgender women, 40% as cisgender men, and 3% as other gender identities) that were collected in the context of the International Sex Survey (ISS), a large-scale international survey conducted in 42 countries of residence. • Structural equation analyses of the Sexual Risk Survey (SRS) were performed with respect to its pre-established five-factor structure with polytomous (discretized) and continuous (non-discretized) data. Results • With polytomous (discretized) data: 2 (220) = 75,621.740 (p < 0.001), CFI = 0.796, TLI = 0.765, RMSEA = 0.142, SRMR = 0.080,   [0.678, 0.953],   [0.744, 0.907]. • With continuous (non-discretized) data: 2 (220) = 1,466.281 (p < 0.001), CFI = 0.901, TLI = 0.886, RMSEA = 0.056, SRMR = 0.050,   [0.368, 0.876],   [0.548, 0.822]. Discussion • Considering exact and approximate fit, alongside low model-implied  factor loading and McDonald’s  internal consistency values, we cannot recommend employing the Sexual Risk Survey (SRS) with polytomous (discretized) and continuous (non-discretized) data from international populations. • Nevertheless, we recommend that researchers interested in populations other than college students in the United States of America (1) examine the validity and reliability evidence of the material in their population(s) – notably by investigating alternatives to the pre-established internal structure of the material – or (2) employ continuous (non-discretized) data from the self-reported frequency of sexual risk-taking behaviors over the past six months (i.e., item scores) rather than arithmetic mean scores computed to reflect the level of endorsement of each of the five sexual risk-taking dimensions (i.e., factor scores).