Measuring Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity: A Critical Review of Instruments

Research has proliferated on sexual addiction in recent years, and this has led to an increase in the instruments created to measure this construct. The authors review 17 instruments that have been created to assess sexual addiction, including self-report rating scales, self-report checklists, and clinician rating scales measuring symptoms of sexual addiction, as well as self-report rating scales measuring consequences associated with sexual addiction. For each instrument, the authors describe its structure, conceptual basis, and samples studied. They also evaluate the evidence for the reliability and validity of each instrument. The instruments vary widely in their psychometric properties. Many have been created recently, and others have only been studied in specific populations. For each group of instruments, the authors make recommendations for researchers and clinicians.