An Indirect Measure of Implicit Sexual Assertiveness: Reliability and Validity of the Sexual Assertiveness IAT in Young Adults in The Netherlands

In the present study we investigated the reliability and validity of an Implicit Association Test of sexual assertiveness (the SA-IAT) in a sample of young adults (n = 159). The D600 algorithm was used to calculate implicit sexual assertiveness scores. Explicit sexual assertiveness was measured using a selection of items from the Hurlbert Index of Sexual Assertiveness. Personality traits were assessed using the revised, short version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The internal consistency of the SA-IAT was evaluated based on split-half reliability, and found acceptable with α = 0.61 for the practice trials, and α = 0.70 for the test trials, after correction for attenuation. Convergent and divergent validity were evaluated using correlation analysis. Correlation with explicit sexual assertiveness was found to be low, as expected. Divergent validity of the SA-IAT was evaluated against the personality traits of extraversion, neuroticism, and social desirability. Except for a significant correlation of implicit sexual assertiveness with extraversion in the full sample and the female subsample, implicit sexual assertiveness and personality traits were not found to share variance, as expected

An Implicit Measure of Sexual Double Standard Endorsement in Emerging Adults: Reliability and Validity Aspects

Psychometric characteristics were investigated of an Implicit Association Test to assess implicit endorsement of the sexual double standard (SDS-IAT) in emerging adults. The reliability of the SDS-IAT was investigated focusing on internal consistency across different phases of the test. Convergent validity of the SDS-IAT was evaluated against the Scale for the Assessment of Sexual Standards in Youth, an explicit measure of SDS, and against gender investment. Divergent validity was evaluated against the personality characteristics of extraversion, neuroticism, and social desirability proneness. Gendered patterns were examined. Attenuation-corrected alphas demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, with alphas ranging for.65–.70. A modest level of explicit SDS endorsement was found in both female and male participants. In line with their explicit SDS level, a modest level of implicit SDS endorsement was found in male participants, whereas a reverse implicit SDS was found among young women. In agreement with our theoretical expectations, we found low convergent validity in multitrait-multimethod analysis of the SDS-IAT with a measure of explicit SDS endorsement, and with general level of investment in gender ideals. Similarly, divergent validity analysis revealed absence of significant correlations with the conceptually unrelated concepts of extraversion, neuroticism, and social desirability proneness, except for extraversion in female participants. The present findings suggest that implicit SDS endorsement can be assessed using the SDS-IAT. The finding that explicit and implicit SDS approvals differ in young female participants, while they align in young male participants, warrants further research