A SEXUAL ADJUSTMENT QUESTIONNAIRE FOR USE IN THERAPY AND RESEARCH WITH ALCOHOLICS AND THEIR SPOUSES

Despite evidence of extensive sexual problems among alcoholics, sexual adjustment is an area of alcoholics' behavior that often has been neg lected in both treatment and research. To facilitate work on alcoholic s' sexual adjustment, we needed a self-report questionnaire on sexual behavior that we could use in our couples treatment program with alcoh olics and in our longitudinal research on the course of alcoholics' se xual problems over time. Pilot work found that available sexual adjust ment measures were either too long or too sexually explicit to be usef ul. This paper describes the 38-item Sexual Adjustment Questionnaire w e developed by combining selected items from two existing measures es. Factor analysis reduced the questionnaire to the 15 measures of sexua l satisfaction and sexual dysfunction described herein. Preliminary no rmative data and evidence of construct validity, potential clinical an d research uses of the questionnaire, and suggestions for future studi es are described. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.