How do we define sexual pleasure? Is it like sexual satisfaction or is it something more?
If we struggle to define it, then how do we research it? These questions lie at the methodological core of understanding human sexuality.
Dr. Michele Borgman and colleagues tackle this challenge in their study “A Psychometric Study of a Trait and State Assessment of Sexual Pleasure – The Amsterdam Sexual Pleasure Inventory”. Their research focuses on validating the Amsterdam Sexual Pleasure Inventory across diverse populations, making sure it can capture the complex nature of sexual pleasure.
This is a crucial step in understanding how and why people experience sexual pleasure.
Sexual Pleasure
Defining sexual pleasure is challenging because it’s not simply a constellation of physical sensations, but also a range of psychological and emotional experiences. Researchers have struggled to agree on a definition that encompasses all of this. “The experiences of human sexual pleasure are diverse” and it’s this diversity that makes it hard to create a single, clear definition.
Unlike sexual satisfaction, which often involves a balance of rewards and costs, sexual pleasure is purely about the positive feelings from rewarding sexual activities. It’s not about the act but its resulting quality and intensity. This means that even if someone feels satisfied, they might not necessarily experience high levels of pleasure.
To fully understand sexual pleasure, it is important to consider various aspects such as hedonic (sensory enjoyment), interpersonal (bonding with a partner), intrapersonal (self-worth and validation), and general pleasure.
Sexological States and Traits
Sexological states and traits help us understand how people experience pleasure differently. Think of a sexological state as your current mood during sex – it’s the here and now. For example, you may feel more pleasure in a romantic setting with a partner you trust. On the flip side, a sexological trait is more about your general tendency to experience pleasure, regardless of the situation.
Understanding these states and traits is important but measuring them accurately is another challenge.
Existing Sexual Pleasure Research Instruments
When it comes to measuring sexual pleasure, the existing tools have their limitations. There are instruments such as the Female Sexual Subjectivity Inventory and the Sexual Pleasure Scale.
However, these existing measurement tools often fail to capture the full spectrum of sexual pleasure – like solo sex and emotional dimensions.
“There is no instrument yet that covers all facets of sexual pleasure and assesses the construct in a holistic and inclusive manner.” (Dr. Borgman, et al.)
The Creation
Developing the Amsterdam Sexual Pleasure Inventory involved several steps:
Step 1: Initial Development and Validation
It began as version 0.1 in 2013, created by two sexology experts using their collective knowledge and previously observed patterns. This version was reviewed and redefined by a panel of psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and medical doctors. Although it looked at the complex nature of sexual pleasure, it lacked a clear framework – it had potential, but it needed improvement.
Step 2: Revising and Generating New Questions
A team of three experts revised the questions to ensure clarity and inclusivity. They followed strict guidelines to avoid confusion and covered both state (immediate experiences) and trait (general tendencies) aspects of sexual pleasure. For instance, they kept specific questions like “I love it when my erogenous zones are being touched” and removed items like “I feel good when I’m naked.”
Step 3: Translation
The team verified the inventory was translatable to different languages, starting with German, English, and Dutch. They used native speakers to make the translations accurate and culturally relevant.
Step 4: Think Aloud Sessions
The developers did “Think Aloud sessions” to make the inventory easier to understand. Participants without psychology or sexology backgrounds read the questions and verbalized their thoughts.
Pilot Study
In 2020, an online study with 43 participants used the 80-question inventory. Participants gave feedback on clarity, relevance, and redundancy. Based on this, 32 questions were removed, resulting in the final version for validation. For example, “I like being sexually aroused” was deleted, while “I love feeling sexual arousal” was kept.
Validating the Amsterdam Sexual Pleasure Inventory
Between May 2021 and January 2022, 2,579 people expressed interest in a study on sexual experiences. After excluding participants based on age, consent, and time checks, the final sample included 1,371 participants.
The researchers collected both quantitative and qualitative data. First, participants answered demographic questions, followed by the inventory, and other related questionnaires. At the end of the survey, participants could provide an email address to partake in follow-up questions – 637 participants did this.
The Amsterdam Sexual Pleasure Inventory 1.0 consisted of trait and state sections. State questions were rated on a 6-point Likert scale from “not at all” to “a great extent”, while the trait questions used a scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” These questions were tailored to participants’ recent sexual activities and scored separately to confirm clarity in the results.
Additional measures included demographics, sexual satisfaction, assertiveness, and psychological constructs like self-esteem and behavioral tendencies.
The Results
The study started with 36 states and 30 trait questions. Using a special analysis method called exploratory structural equation modeling, the researchers discovered that both sets of questions could be grouped into five main categories:
- Sensual Pleasure
- Bonding Pleasure
- Interaction Pleasure
- Pleasure-related Mastery
- Pleasure-related Validation.
Then, they improved the sections by trimming them down to 24 state questions and 23 trait questions. To make sure they focused on the key elements of sexual pleasure, the researchers used a principal component analysis – this looks at a ton of data and highlights the main patterns. The final inventory showed reliable results for different genders and sexual functions.
Reliability, Validity, and Correlations
Overall, the Amsterdam Sexual Pleasure Inventory was reliable, with most questions being consistent and dependable. However, there were some weak spots. The Enjoyment-Related Self-Worth (trait) and the Pleasure-Related Validation (state) questions weren’t as reliable, suggesting these parts might need some adjustments.
To ensure the inventory works as intended, researchers checked how it relates to other psychological and sexual factors. The questions showed strong links to sexual function, distress, and assertiveness, confirming they were measuring the right things. They had weaker links to traits like self-esteem, which is good because it means they were not measuring unrelated stuff. However, some unexpected connections to attachment anxiety and sexual inhibition suggest more research is needed.
The inventory was also good at telling apart sexually functional and dysfunctional groups. People with sexual dysfunction scored much lower, showing the inventory can differentiate based on sexual function.
Sensitivity analyses were done to see if treating “not applicable” responses as missing data affected the results – it did not. Further, the inventory was checked for bias, and participants’ responses were not influenced by the desire to present themselves better. Meaning their answers were genuine and not skewed by social acceptance.
Gender Differences and Follow-Up
There was a difference in responses based on gender. Males scored higher on Interaction Enjoyment, while females scored higher on Enjoyment-Related Self Worth and Pleasure-Related Validation – suggesting further gender-specific research in sexual pleasure.
Lastly, the follow-up interviews revealed more insights into how the participants understood the inventory questions. This helped refine and enhance its overall validity.
What’s Next?
Figuring out how to boost our sexual pleasure, not just how to experience it. This is what Dr. Borgman and the research team recommend along with enhancing our confidence to explore more sexually pleasurable experiences.
They acknowledge limitations to the inventory, such as needing repeated studies to examine changes over time. Additionally, researchers need to validate it across different cultural contexts. By addressing these gaps, future research can give us a larger understanding of what makes sex pleasurable for all people.
The future of sex research is discovering the way toward great sex – giving you more pleasure.
