Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scales—Short Form

Abstract

The Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scales—Short Form (SIS/SES-SF) is a 14-item self-report psychometric instrument developed by Deanna L. Carpenter, Erick Janssen, Cynthia A. Graham, Harrie Vorst, and Jelte M. Wicherts to assess individual propensities for sexual excitation and sexual inhibition. Grounded in the Dual Control Model of Sexual Response formulated by John Bancroft and Erick Janssen, the instrument operationalizes human sexual responsiveness as the net product of independent neurobiological activation and inhibition systems. Derived from the original 45-item SIS/SES through rigorous multigroup structural equation modeling in LISREL, the short form resolves fundamental psychometric disparities between men and women by retaining only those items that demonstrate full measurement invariance (invariant factor loadings, intercepts, and residual variances) across sexes.

The SIS/SES-SF comprises three distinct latent factors: Sexual Excitation (SES), consisting of six items assessing sexual arousal in response to external and social stimuli; Sexual Inhibition 1 (SIS1), comprising four items reflecting arousal loss triggered by performance distraction or performance failure threats; and Sexual Inhibition 2 (SIS2), consisting of four items capturing arousal suppression driven by the perceived consequences of sexual activity, such as fear of disease transmission or detection. Responses are recorded on a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (Strongly Agree) to 4 (Strongly Disagree), which are reverse-coded for analytical summation. Psychometric evaluations on 2,045 young adults demonstrate high correspondence with the original 45-item inventory (correlations of .90 for SES, .80 for SIS1, and .80 for SIS2), acceptable test-retest reliability across multi-week intervals (.61 to .75), and robust convergent and discriminant validity against generalized behavioral activation and inhibition (BIS/BAS), extraversion, neuroticism, erotophobia-erotophilia, and sociosexuality. The SIS/SES-SF offers researchers and clinicians a theoretically coherent, brief, and gender-invariant diagnostic tool suitable for clinical sexology, epidemiology, and cross-gender behavioral investigations.

Keywords

Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scales—Short Form, SIS/SES-SF, Dual Control Model, Sexual Excitation, Sexual Inhibition, Measurement Invariance, Psychometrics, Sexual Response, Performance Anxiety, Sexual Risk Behavior

Authors

The SIS/SES-SF was developed through an international collaborative effort between specialists in psychosexual medicine, human sexuality, and quantitative psychometrics:

• Deanna L. Carpenter, Ph.D. — Department of Psychology, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Virginia, USA. Dr. Carpenter specializes in human sexuality, gender dynamics in sexual response, and psychometric evaluation of behavioral scales.
• Erick Janssen, Ph.D. — The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA (later affiliated with the Institute for Family and Sexuality Studies, Department of Neurosciences, University of Leuven, Belgium). Dr. Janssen is a co-developer of the Dual Control Model and an international authority on sexual psychophysiology, erectile dysfunction, and sexual compulsivity.
• Cynthia A. Graham, Ph.D. — Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom, and Department of Psychology, University of Southampton, UK. Dr. Graham has led extensive clinical trials and epidemiological research focusing on women’s sexual health, psychosexual dysfunction, and hormonal-behavioral interactions.
• Harrie C. M. Vorst, Ph.D. — Department of Psychology, Methods and Statistics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Dr. Vorst is an expert in test construction, psychometric modeling, and latent variable analysis.
• Jelte M. Wicherts, Ph.D. — Department of Methodology and Statistics, Tilburg University (formerly at the University of Amsterdam), The Netherlands. Dr. Wicherts is a renowned quantitative methodologist specializing in structural equation modeling, measurement invariance, factorial validity, and research integrity.

Purpose

The central aim of the Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scales—Short Form (SIS/SES-SF) is to provide a brief, psychometrically sound, and strictly gender-equivalent self-report measure that captures individual proneness to sexual arousal and sexual suppression. While the original 45-item SIS/SES proved instrumental in establishing the validity of the Dual Control Model in men, subsequent research revealed that several items displayed differential item functioning and non-invariant measurement parameters when administered to women. For instance, specific original items regarding sexual performance concerns (e.g., erectile maintenance, premature ejaculation, or partner pleasing) operated differently across genders, and inhibitory concerns surrounding pregnancy and physical pain were uniquely salient for women. The SIS/SES-SF was designed specifically to isolate the shared, core cognitive-affective mechanisms of sexual excitation and inhibition that operate identically across biological sexes.

Clinically, the SIS/SES-SF serves as an efficient diagnostic screener to evaluate vulnerabilities toward sexual dysfunctions and high-risk sexual behaviors. Low sexual excitation combined with high sexual inhibition (particularly elevated SIS1 scores) is a potent predictor of arousal difficulties, such as erectile dysfunction in men and female sexual arousal disorder or hypoactive sexual desire dysfunction in women. Conversely, elevated sexual excitation coupled with exceptionally low sexual inhibition (particularly low SIS2 scores) is consistently linked with impulsive sexual risk-taking, inconsistent condom use, infidelity, and hypersexual behavior. By providing a brief assessment that takes under five minutes to complete, the short form enables large-scale epidemiological studies, experimental laboratory sessions, and time-constrained clinical intakes to measure these fundamental neurobiological-behavioral propensities without inducing respondent fatigue.

Psychological Construct

The SIS/SES-SF conceptualizes sexual response not as a unitary, hydraulic drive, but as the dynamic interplay of two independent central processes: sexual excitation (arousal proneness) and sexual inhibition (suppression proneness). The inventory quantifies three distinct dimensions:

1. Sexual Excitation (SES)

The SES subscale reflects an individual’s baseline sensitivity to sexual stimuli and the readiness with which they experience sexual excitement and genital vasocongestion. In the short form, SES focuses primarily on arousal triggered by social interactions, visual or auditory cues, and sexual thoughts. Individuals scoring high on SES respond rapidly and intensely to external sexual stimuli, such as flirtation, attractive strangers, erotic telephone conversations, or casual physical contact. Individuals with low SES require significantly more sustained, context-specific, and intense stimulation to achieve and maintain genital arousal.

2. Sexual Inhibition 1: Threat of Performance Failure (SIS1)

The SIS1 subscale measures the tendency for sexual arousal to be inhibited or abolished by performance-related cognitive interference, internal distractions, and performance anxiety. It operationalizes sexual vulnerability to non-erotic or distracting cues. Prototypical high-SIS1 manifestations include losing an erection or vaginal lubrication due to an extraneous thought, ambient noise (such as a television or external conversation), or acute pressure to achieve intercourse immediately upon becoming aroused before the response diminishes. SIS1 represents a vulnerability toward distraction-mediated sexual dysfunction.

3. Sexual Inhibition 2: Threat of Performance Consequences (SIS2)

The SIS2 subscale captures the suppression of sexual arousal in response to external, social, or biological threats. Rather than cognitive distraction, SIS2 reflects protective vigilance against danger. Elevated SIS2 scores reflect an acute loss of arousal when there is a risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI), being caught or observed by unauthorized persons in public or semi-private settings, or engaging in sexual activity where physical discovery is imminent. While SIS1 is primarily implicated in clinical sexual dysfunction, SIS2 acts as an evolutionary behavioral barrier against external peril; low SIS2 scores represent a failure of this regulatory buffer, predisposing individuals to risky sexual practices.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical bedrock of the SIS/SES-SF is the Dual Control Model of Sexual Response, formulated by John Bancroft and Erick Janssen (Bancroft & Janssen, 2000; Bancroft et al., 2009). The model draws upon neurobiological and evolutionary paradigms, positing that sexual response is governed by central nervous system mechanisms that balance excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission.

From an evolutionary perspective, human reproduction requires high excitatory sensitivity to capitalize on mating opportunities. However, unregulated sexual pursuit poses severe survival risks, including predation, social conflict, energy depletion, and pathogen transmission. Consequently, an independent central inhibitory mechanism evolved to suppress sexual response in the presence of external threats. The Dual Control Model proposes that individuals vary independently along these two axes, creating distinct neurobehavioral phenotypes.

Neurochemically, sexual excitation is heavily mediated by central dopaminergic systems acting within the medial preoptic area and nucleus accumbens, alongside pro-sexual neuromodulators including oxytocin, melanocortins, and noradrenaline. In contrast, sexual inhibition is governed by serotonergic transmission (particularly via 5-HT₂ and 5-HT_1A receptors), endocannabinoids, and central opioid signaling, which act on prefrontal and limbic structures to inhibit genital motor patterns and autonomic arousal. The SIS/SES-SF maps these central neurochemical balances into psychological self-appraisals.

The Dual Control Model also intersects with general personality theories, notably Jeffrey Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) and the associated Behavioral Activation System (BAS) and Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) framework (Carver & White, 1994). However, Bancroft and colleagues demonstrated that while generalized approach-avoidance traits correlate modestly with sexual excitation and inhibition, sexual response exhibits domain-specific regulatory autonomy that cannot be fully explained by general personality dimensions.

Validity

The validity of the SIS/SES-SF has been established across multiple independent investigations examining structural, convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity.

Structural and Factorial Validity

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) conducted by Carpenter et al. (2008) on 2,045 university students confirmed that the 14-item, three-factor structure possesses exceptional fit across both sexes. The correlation between the 14-item short-form subscales and the full 45-item instrument subscales was exceptionally strong: r = .90 for SES, r = .80 for SIS1, and r = .80 for SIS2, identically for both men and women. This confirms that the short form captures the central variance of the original constructs without loss of factorial integrity.

Convergent and Discriminant Validity

Validation studies using standardized personality and sexuality measures confirmed expected theoretical relationships:

• Behavioral Inhibition and Activation (BIS/BAS): SES correlated positively with BAS Drive (women: r = .25; men: r = .20) and BAS Fun Seeking (women: r = .28; men: r = .35). Conversely, SIS2 demonstrated positive associations with BIS (Carver & White, 1994), confirming its role as a threat-sensitive avoidance mechanism.
• Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ): SIS1 showed selective positive correlations with Neuroticism, reflecting its cognitive-anxious performance orientation, while SES correlated with Extraversion.
• Minnesota Personality Questionnaire (MPQ): The Harm Avoidance scale of the MPQ correlated positively with SIS2, supporting the conceptualization of SIS2 as a harm-reduction behavioral mechanism.
• Sociosexuality and Sexual Attitudes: SES correlated positively with the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI; Simpson & Gangestad, 1991) and the Sexual Opinion Survey (SOS; Fisher et al., 1988), demonstrating that high sexual excitation aligns with unrestricted sociosexual attitudes and erotophilic dispositions. SIS2 correlated negatively with unrestricted sociosexuality.
• Social Desirability: Correlations with the 5-item Social Desirability Scale (SDSR-5; Hays et al., 1989) were minimal across subscales (ranging from -.04 to -.23 in women, and -.06 to .10 in men), indicating that the short form is largely resistant to socially desirable response bias.

Reliability

The temporal stability and internal consistency of the SIS/SES-SF have been corroborated through empirical testing:

Test-Retest Stability

In a test-retest reliability investigation involving 50 men and 51 women who completed the inventory across an average interval of 32 days for women and 48 days for men, the short form demonstrated solid stability across time. Following the exclusion of three statistical outliers, test-retest correlations were:

• Women: SES r = .61, SIS1 r = .61, SIS2 r = .63 (mean interval = 32 days).
• Men: SES r = .75, SIS1 r = .66, SIS2 r = .65 (mean interval = 48 days).

These values demonstrate that despite measuring contextual arousal situations, the SIS/SES-SF captures stable trait-level propensities that remain consistent across multi-week intervals.

Internal Consistency

Because the SIS/SES-SF subscales consist of brief 4- to 6-item indicators selected specifically for cross-gender measurement invariance and conceptual breadth rather than high item redundancy, internal consistency estimates (Cronbach’s alpha) range moderately from .65 to .78 across diverse community and clinical samples. Psychometric experts emphasize that for multi-faceted trait inventories, high test-retest stability and rigorous factor invariance take precedence over inflated internal consistency coefficients driven by repetitive item wording.

Factor Analysis

The construction of the SIS/SES-SF represents a rigorous application of multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) within the structural equation modeling framework via LISREL. The item selection sequence unfolded as follows:

1. Initial Factorial Reduction

The original 45-item SIS/SES was administered to 2,045 undergraduate students (1,067 women and 978 men; mean age = 19.8 years). Initial factor modeling identified a baseline three-factor solution comprising 19 items that retained equal factor loadings across male and female subsamples.

2. Measurement Invariance Testing

Carpenter, Wicherts, and colleagues subjected the 19 candidate items to formal multigroup invariance tests, evaluating four hierarchical levels:

• Configural Invariance: Verifying that the identical three-factor structure (SES, SIS1, SIS2) underlies the responses of both men and women.
• Metric (Weak) Invariance: Constraining factor loadings to be equal across sexes, ensuring that the latent constructs have the same metric scale for both groups.
• Scalar (Strong) Invariance: Constraining item intercepts to be invariant, ensuring that cross-group differences in observed scores reflect true differences in the latent means rather than item-level differential functioning.
• Strict (Residual) Invariance: Constraining unique error variances to be equivalent across sexes.

Several items failed the intercept and residual invariance tests due to gender-specific cultural or physiological expressions (e.g., male-specific anxieties regarding partner satisfaction, female-specific concerns regarding physical pain and pregnancy). Five non-invariant items were eliminated, yielding a final, fully invariant 14-item instrument.

3. Final Factor Structure

The resulting 14-item model demonstrated exemplary goodness-of-fit indices across multigroup LISREL analyses. The final item distribution reflects:

• SES (6 items): Items 1, 3, 8, 10, 11, 14. Focuses on social, cognitive, and sensory triggers of arousal.
• SIS1 (4 items): Items 4, 9, 12, 13. Captures distraction, performance focus, and erectile/arousal maintenance anxiety.
• SIS2 (4 items): Items 2, 5, 6, 7. Captures threat of discovery, public exposure, and pathogen transmission risk.

Instrument / Measurement Tool

The operational specifications of the SIS/SES-SF are outlined below:

• Instrument Name: Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scales—Short Form (SIS/SES-SF)
• Target Population: Adults and adolescents aged 18 and older across all gender identities and sexual orientations.
• Administration Format: Self-report questionnaire; available in paper-and-pencil, computer-assisted, or secure online web formats.
• Administration Time: Approximately 3 to 5 minutes.
• Number of Items: 14 items divided across 3 subscales.
• Response Format: 4-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly Agree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Agree, 4 = Strongly Agree).
• Scoring Procedure:
  • Step 1 (Recoding): All items must be reverse-coded prior to subscale summation: 1 → 4 (Strongly Agree), 2 → 3 (Agree), 3 → 2 (Disagree), 4 → 1 (Strongly Disagree).
  • Step 2 (Subscale Summation):
    • SES Score: Sum of recoded responses to Items 1, 3, 8, 10, 11, and 14 (Theoretical range: 6 to 24).
    • SIS1 Score: Sum of recoded responses to Items 4, 9, 12, and 13 (Theoretical range: 4 to 16).
    • SIS2 Score: Sum of recoded responses to Items 2, 5, 6, and 7 (Theoretical range: 4 to 16).
  • Step 3 (Missing Data): Incomplete data should ideally be discarded. If retention is required, missing values may be imputed using the respondent’s mean score on the remaining items of that specific subscale, provided at least 75% of the subscale items were completed.
• Normative Reference Values: In the original normative college sample (Carpenter et al., 2008):
  • Men: SES: M = 17.1 (SD = 2.8); SIS1: M = 8.2 (SD = 1.9); SIS2: M = 10.5 (SD = 2.1).
  • Women: SES: M = 15.0 (SD = 2.8); SIS1: M = 8.7 (SD = 1.8); SIS2: M = 12.0 (SD = 2.3).
  • Note: Across all subscales, gender differences were statistically significant (p < .001), with men scoring higher on SES and women scoring higher on both inhibition subscales.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The SIS/SES-SF was developed in 2008 by Deanna L. Carpenter, Erick Janssen, Cynthia A. Graham, Harrie Vorst, and Jelte M. Wicherts at The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. The instrument is protected under international copyright law. However, the authors and The Kinsey Institute make the scale available free of charge for non-commercial academic research, clinical education, and psychological evaluation purposes. Commercial organizations, pharmaceutical clinical trials, or commercial software developers wishing to incorporate the instrument must obtain formal written permission and licensing agreements from the authors or through The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, Bloomington.

References

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• Bancroft, J., & Janssen, E. (2000). The dual control model of male sexual response: A theoretical approach to centrally mediated erectile dysfunction. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 24(5), 571–579. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0149-7634(00)00024-5
• Carpenter, D. L., Janssen, E., Graham, C. A., Vorst, H., & Wicherts, J. M. (2008). Women’s scores on the Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scales (SIS/SES): Gender similarities and differences. The Journal of Sex Research, 45(1), 36–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490701808076
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• Janssen, E., Vorst, H., Finn, P., & Bancroft, J. (2002). The Sexual Inhibition (SIS) and Sexual Excitation (SES) Scales: I. Measuring sexual inhibition and excitation proneness in men. The Journal of Sex Research, 39(2), 114–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490209552130
• Simpson, J. A., & Gangestad, S. W. (1991). Individual differences in sociosexuality: Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(6), 870–883. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.60.6.870
• Tellegen, A., & Waller, N. G. (1994). Exploring personality through test construction: Development of a multidimensional personality questionnaire. In S. R. Briggs & J. M. Cheek (Eds.), Personality measures: Development and evaluation (Vol. 1, pp. 133–161). Jai Press.

Items of the Scale