Female Sexual Subjectivity Inventory: Psychometric Properties in Two Samples of Peruvian Women from Lima

This study examined for the first time the psychometric properties of the Female Sexual Subjectivity Inventory (FSSI; Horne, 2006) in Peru (FSSI-P). This inventory assesses women′s body-related sexual self-esteem, perceptions of efficacy and entitlement to sexual desire and pleasure, and sexual self-reflection. The FSSI-P was administered to 527 Peruvian women, divided in two samples: university students (n = 298) and adult (n = 229) women. Results from confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed the structure of the original five correlated factors in both samples and multigroup CFA showed configural, metric and scalar invariance for the original five factor solution of the scale. The FSSI-P also demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach’s α coefficients ranging from .74 to .86), and in the sample university students, significant correlations between the FSSI-P subscales and the positive and negative affect scales of the I-PANAS-SF (International Short Version of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) provided evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Results showed that body-related self-esteem and sexual self-efficacy play a meaningful role in the experience of both positive and negative affect while sexual self-efficacy is negatively correlated to negative affect. Overall, the results indicate that the FSSI-P possesses adequate psychometric properties for use in the Peruvian context.