Sex and the Internet: A survey instrument to assess college students' behavior and attitudes

Due to the paucity of empirical data on college students' perceptions and b ehavior when searching the Internet for sexuality-related information, the purpose of this article is to present the development, psychometric propert ies, and initial validation results of an instrument designed to measure th ese factors. The questionnaire, based on Social Cognitive Theory, contained three scales to measure attitudes of students toward use of the Internet f or (a) obtaining sexuality-related information, (b) establishing personal c onnections, and (c) for sexual entertainment/arousal. Each of these three s cales consisted of two subscales, measuring expectancies and expectations f or the above functions. The subscales demonstrated a high degree of interna l consistency (alphas ranging from .76 to .95) and appropriate temporal sta bility (rs = .69 to .78). A Principal Components analysis of the subscales yielded a factor structure of six factors, accounting for 68.8% of the tota l variance. Importance of the instrument for sexuality research as well as its limitations are also presented.