Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale

1. Abstract

The Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale (SSDS) and its subsequent variant, the Revised Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale (SSDS-R), developed by William E. Snell, Jr. and colleagues (Snell & Belk, 1987; Snell, Belk, Papini, & Clark, 1989), are specialized psychometric instruments engineered to measure an individual’s willingness and actual behavior regarding the verbal disclosure of intimate sexual topics. Interpersonal communication surrounding human sexuality plays a vital role in relational intimacy, sexual well-being, psychological adjustment, and public health risk reduction. The original SSDS assesses disclosure across 12 distinct sexual domains comprising 60 unique topic items evaluated toward specific disclosure targets, such as female therapists, male therapists, parents, or close friends. When evaluated across comparative dyads (e.g., male versus female therapists), the instrument encompasses up to 120 evaluations based on 5-item subscales.

To capture an expanded spectrum of interpersonal interactions, Snell et al. (1989) developed the SSDS-R, which broadens the scope of assessment to 24 subscales comprising 72 items (3 items per subscale) tailored specifically to evaluate disclosure toward an intimate romantic partner. The SSDS-R incorporates nuanced psychological, affective, and sociocultural dimensions, including sexual behaviors, sensations, fantasies, preferences, the meaning of sex, sexual accountability, distressing sexual experiences, dishonesty, sexual delay preferences, societal issues (abortion, homosexuality, rape, HIV/AIDS), morality, and a spectrum of distinct sexual affective states (satisfaction, guilt, calmness, depression, jealousy, apathy, anxiety, happiness, anger, and fear). Both instruments employ a 5-point Likert-type response format ranging from 0 (indicating complete unwillingness or absence of disclosure) to 4 (indicating total willingness or complete disclosure). Empirical evaluations demonstrate robust internal consistency: original SSDS subscale Cronbach’s alphas range from .83 to .94 across target recipients (average α ≥ .90), while the SSDS-R exhibits alphas ranging from .59 to .91 (average α = .81). Factor-analytic investigations and differential disclosure analyses confirm strong construct, convergent, and discriminant validity across clinical and relational contexts.

2. Keywords

Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale, SSDS, SSDS-R, William E. Snell Jr., sexual communication, interpersonal intimacy, sexual affect, psychometrics, relational satisfaction, sexual health

3. Authors

The Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale and its revised framework were conceptualized and validated by an academic research team led by:

• William E. Snell, Jr., Ph.D. — Department of Psychology, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, United States. Dr. Snell is widely recognized for his extensive psychometric contributions to human sexuality, relational communication, sexual awareness, and interpersonal personality dynamics.
• Sharyn S. Belk, Ph.D. — Department of Psychology, Southeast Missouri State University / University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Belk collaborated on foundational psychometric investigations examining sex-role orientations, therapist gender effects, and self-disclosure patterns.
• Dennis R. Papini, Ph.D. — Department of Psychology, Southeast Missouri State University (subsequently at Middle Tennessee State University and St. Cloud State University). Dr. Papini specializes in adolescent development, family dynamics, and close relationship communication patterns.
• Sylvia Clark, M.A. — Department of Psychology, Southeast Missouri State University. Co-investigator on empirical validation studies examining partner-directed intimate communication.

4. Purpose

The primary purpose of the Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale (SSDS) and its revised iteration (SSDS-R) is to provide an objective, multifaceted, and empirically validated measurement of an individual’s self-reported willingness and historical disclosure of sexual information to targeted social figures. Historically, generalized self-disclosure scales (such as the Jourard Self-Disclosure Questionnaire) treated personal disclosure as a broad, undifferentiated construct, frequently omitting sexual topics entirely or reducing sexual communication to one or two vague, ambiguous items. Recognizing that sexuality represents a uniquely sensitive, stigmatized, and emotionally charged domain of human experience, Snell and colleagues sought to develop a comprehensive taxonomy of sexual topics capable of differentiating disclosure patterns based on communicative content and the specific recipient of the disclosure.

In clinical and therapeutic settings, the SSDS provides clinicians, marital and sex therapists, and mental health practitioners with a diagnostic mapping tool. It helps identify communicative inhibitions, trauma-related avoidance, and discrepancy patterns within couples. Sexual communication barriers are closely linked to sexual dysfunctions, such as hypoactive sexual desire, erectile difficulties, orgasmic disorders, and dyspareunia. Therapists can administer the SSDS to assess baseline communicative avoidance, guide targeted desensitization and communication interventions, and track therapeutic progress over the course of systemic or cognitive-behavioral sex therapy.

In empirical psychological research, the SSDS and SSDS-R serve critical roles across several domains:

• Relationship Science: Evaluating how intimate self-disclosure mediates the relationship between attachment styles, relationship satisfaction, dyadic consensus, and long-term relational stability.
• Public Health and Behavioral Medicine: Investigating communication regarding contraception, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and HIV/AIDS risk reduction, particularly in relation to barrier contraceptive negotiation.
• Gender and Cross-Gender Communication: Analyzing gender differences in disclosure patterns to male versus female recipients, including healthcare professionals, friends, and family members.
• Trauma and Affective Processing: Examining the psychological barriers to disclosing sexual distress, coercive experiences, assault, or sexual orientation.

5. Psychological Construct

The psychological construct assessed by the SSDS is multidimensional sexual self-disclosure, defined as the deliberate verbal revelation of private, intimate, cognitive, affective, behavioral, and evaluative information concerning one’s sexuality to another individual. Snell and colleagues conceptualized sexual disclosure not as a single global trait, but as an interaction between specific topical content and the target recipient. The SSDS-R operationalizes this construct across 24 distinct subscales:

• Sexual Behaviors: Objective disclosure concerning past sexual activities, historical experiences, frequencies, and physical sexual repertoire (e.g., past experiences and specific behaviors).
• Sexual Sensations: Disclosure of sensory experiences, tactile triggers, physical pleasure, and physiological foreplay stimuli that produce arousal.
• Sexual Fantasies: The verbal revelation of private, imaginative, or daydreamed sexual imagery and internal erotic cognitions.
• Sexual Preferences: Explicit communication regarding an individual’s preferred sexual techniques, desires, personal wishes, and specific physical positioning.
• Meaning of Sex: Philosophical, emotional, and cognitive perspectives regarding what intimacy and sexual intercourse represent within personal life and relationships.
• Sexual Accountability: Willingness to discuss ethical responsibility, answering for one’s actions, and mutual accountability within sexual dynamics.
• Distressing Sex: Sharing negative, uncomfortable, unfulfilling, or coercive sexual encounters, including unwanted sexual experiences.
• Sexual Dishonesty: Disclosing instances of deception, feigned pleasure, faking orgasms, or misleading a partner regarding sexual feelings.
• Sexual Delay Preferences: Communicating boundaries regarding timing, refraining from sexual activities, and choosing when to postpone sexual intimacy.
• Abortion and Pregnancy: Open discussion of personal feelings, ethical values, and anticipated decisions surrounding unplanned pregnancy and termination.
• Homosexuality: Communicating personal attitudes, experiences, and social perspectives regarding sexual orientation and same-sex relationships.
• Rape: Disclosing beliefs, knowledge, fears, or personal reactions regarding sexual assault, consent violations, and sexual violence.
• AIDS / STI Concerns: Communicating health apprehensions, preventive precautions, epidemiological awareness, and personal risks regarding HIV and STIs.
• Sexual Morality: Disclosing ethical standards, moral frameworks, societal norms, and values guiding sexual conduct.
• Positive Sexual Affects: A set of subscales evaluating specific positive emotional experiences linked to sexuality: Sexual Satisfaction (pleasure and fulfillment), Sexual Calmness (serenity, tranquility, and relaxation), and Sexual Happiness (joy, delight, and cheerfulness).
• Negative Sexual Affects: A set of subscales measuring the verbal expression of distressing affective experiences tied to sexuality: Sexual Guilt (shame and remorse), Sexual Depression (sadness and melancholy), Sexual Jealousy (possessiveness and suspiciousness), Sexual Apathy (indifference and emotional detachment), Sexual Anxiety (worry, nervousness, and feeling troubled), Sexual Anger (frustration, irritation, and hostility), and Sexual Fear (fright, vulnerability, and apprehension).

6. Theoretical Framework

The theoretical architecture of the SSDS is grounded in Social Penetration Theory, pioneered by Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor (1973). Social Penetration Theory posits that interpersonal relationships evolve from superficial, non-intimate orientations to deeper, emotionally vulnerable states through reciprocal, gradual, and systematic self-disclosure. Altman and Taylor characterized this progression as peeling back concentric layers of an onion: peripheral layers involve biographical demographic details; intermediate layers encompass personal attitudes and preferences; and central, interior core layers contain private fears, sexual vulnerabilities, self-concept evaluations, and deeply held secrets.

Under this theoretical framework, sexual information represents the innermost core of personal vulnerability. Revealing one’s sexual fantasies, perceived dysfunctions, traumatic encounters, or emotional anxieties carries high psychological vulnerability. According to social penetration theory, disclosing this core information requires high interpersonal trust, secure attachment, and expectations of positive partner responsiveness. Conversely, disclosure failures can lead to emotional detachment, sexual dissatisfaction, and relational distress.

Additionally, the SSDS draws from Interpersonal Communication Theory and Social Exchange Theory (Thibaut & Kelley, 1959). Self-disclosure functions as an exchange of social resources where individuals weigh the perceived psychological costs against anticipated rewards. When applied to sexual self-disclosure, the perceived costs include social rejection, judgment, shame, relationship dissolution, or invalidation. The expected rewards include reciprocal intimacy, sexual pleasure, validation, and emotional closeness. Snell’s operationalization allows researchers to observe this cost-benefit calculus across different disclosure targets (such as mothers, fathers, same-sex friends, opposite-sex friends, clinical therapists, and romantic partners).

7. Validity

The psychometric validity of both the SSDS and SSDS-R has been demonstrated across multiple empirical investigations involving college cohorts, community adult samples, and clinical populations (Snell & Belk, 1987; Snell et al., 1989).

Construct and Criterion Validity

Construct validity is evidenced by systematic variations in disclosure patterns across different recipient targets, biological sexes, and topical content. In the initial validation studies by Snell, Belk, Papini, and Clark (1989), distinct target-specific patterns were observed:

• Target Recipient Differences: Female respondents exhibited significantly higher willingness to disclose sensitive sexual topics (such as negative sexual affect, sexual trauma, and birth control) to female therapists compared to male therapists. Similarly, in peer relationships, respondents disclosed sexual behaviors, sensations, and fantasies significantly more often to best friends of the same sex than to parental figures.
• Gender Disparities: Men reported greater historical disclosure of positive sexual behaviors and sensations to male peers, whereas women reported higher rates of affective disclosure, including sexual guilt, fear, and relationship meaning, to close female friends.

Convergent and Discriminant Validity

Convergent validity has been established through positive correlations with standardized measures of general self-disclosure, interpersonal trust, dyadic intimacy, and sexual satisfaction. SSDS subscales measuring sexual satisfaction, happiness, and sensations correlate positively with relationship longevity and subjective sexual well-being. Conversely, negative sexual affect subscales (sexual guilt, depression, anxiety, and fear) correlate with measures of erotophobia, sexual shame, neuroticism, and relational conflict.

Discriminant validity is supported by modest or nonsignificant correlations with unrelated personality dimensions, such as general intelligence, social desirability scales (e.g., Marlowe-Crowne), and non-intimate conversational measures. These findings suggest that the SSDS captures specific sexual communicative processes rather than a generalized tendency toward talkativeness or impression management.

8. Reliability

The reliability of the SSDS and SSDS-R has been evaluated through multiple indices of internal consistency across diverse empirical samples.

Original SSDS Internal Consistency

In the foundational psychometric study conducted by Snell and Belk (1987), internal consistency for the 12 subscales was established using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients across male and female therapist disclosure targets:

• Female Therapist Target: Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from a low of .83 to a high of .93, with an overall average subscale alpha of .90.
• Male Therapist Target: Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from a low of .84 to a high of .94, with an overall average subscale alpha of .92.

SSDS-R Internal Consistency

For the 24-subscale intimate-partner version (SSDS-R) presented by Snell et al. (1989), Cronbach’s alpha coefficients across the 3-item subscales ranged from .59 to .91, with a mean alpha coefficient of .81. The majority of subscales demonstrated strong reliability (α ≥ .80). Lower values (α ≈ .59 to .68) were observed primarily on select cognitive or ideological subscales (such as sexual delay preferences or specific attitudes toward contraception), whereas affective subscales (guilt, depression, anxiety, happiness, calmness) consistently exhibited alpha values between .85 and .91.

Test-retest reliability assessments conducted over intervals of two to four weeks have shown stability coefficients ranging from r = .74 to .88, confirming temporal consistency in personal disclosure patterns within established intimate relationships.

9. Factor Analysis

The underlying factor structure of the SSDS and SSDS-R was investigated during initial scale construction through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) utilizing principal components extraction with orthogonal (Varimax) and oblique (Promax) rotations, supplemented by subsequent confirmatory factor analyses (CFA).

Initial factor extractions on the 60 items of the SSDS supported the proposed multidimensional framework. Items loaded onto their respective conceptual domains with primary factor loadings exceeding .50, while cross-loadings remained below .30. In the SSDS-R validation, a higher-order factor analysis supported three broad dimensions of sexual self-disclosure:

1. Behavioral and Physiological Experiences: Comprising sexual behaviors, tactile sensations, physical fantasies, and explicit preferences (loadings ranging from .62 to .84).
2. Cognitive, Ideological, and Societal Issues: Comprising the meaning of sex, accountability, morality, delay preferences, abortion, contraception, AIDS, and homosexuality (loadings ranging from .54 to .78).
3. Affective and Evaluative Reactions: Comprising both positive and negative emotional states, including guilt, happiness, depression, jealousy, anxiety, anger, calmness, and satisfaction (loadings ranging from .68 to .89).

Confirmatory factor analytic models testing this higher-order three-factor structure have demonstrated adequate fit indices across diverse samples, with Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) values ranging between .051 and .068, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) values exceeding .91, and Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) values exceeding .90.

10. Instrument / Measurement Tool

• Instrument Name: Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale (SSDS) / Revised Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale (SSDS-R)
• Author: William E. Snell, Jr., Ph.D., with Sharyn S. Belk, Dennis R. Papini, and Sylvia Clark
• Test Type: Multi-topic, target-specific self-report psychometric inventory
• Target Population: Adolescents, college students, and adults in dating, cohabiting, marital, or clinical therapeutic relationships
• Administration Format: Self-administered paper-and-pencil questionnaire, optical mark scan sheet, or secure digital survey interface
• Administration Time: Approximately 20 to 30 minutes for the full multi-target version; 10 to 15 minutes for the partner-specific SSDS-R
• Item Count:
  • SSDS (Target-Comparative): 60 core items evaluated across multiple target columns (e.g., mother, father, best male friend, best female friend, or therapists), generating up to 120+ total response ratings.
  • SSDS-R (Partner-Specific): 72 items organized into 24 distinct 3-item subscales.
• Response Format: 5-point Likert-type rating format:
  • SSDS (Willingness format): 0 = I am not at all willing to discuss this topic with this person; 1 = I am slightly willing to discuss this topic with this person; 2 = I am moderately willing to discuss this topic with this person; 3 = I am almost totally willing to discuss this topic with this person; 4 = I am totally willing to discuss this topic with this person.
  • SSDS (Behavioral/Frequency format): Have not discussed this topic (0), Have slightly discussed this topic (1), Have moderately discussed this topic (2), Have mostly discussed this topic (3), Have fully discussed this topic (4).
  • SSDS-R (Intimate partner format): 0 = I would not be willing to discuss this topic with an intimate partner; 1 = I would be slightly willing to discuss this topic with an intimate partner; 2 = I would be moderately willing to discuss this topic with an intimate partner; 3 = I would be mostly willing to discuss this topic with an intimate partner; 4 = I would be completely willing to discuss this topic with an intimate partner.
• Scoring and Quantification:
  • Subscale scores are derived by summing the items assigned to each subscale. None of the items are reverse-scored.
  • On the 12-subscale SSDS (5 items per subscale), subscale scores range from 0 to 20 for each designated target.
  • On the 24-subscale SSDS-R (3 items per subscale), subscale scores range from 0 to 12.
  • Higher numerical sums indicate higher levels of self-disclosure or willingness to disclose concerning that specific sexual domain to the targeted recipient.

11. Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The foundational version of the Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale was introduced in 1987 at the Southwestern Psychological Association convention (Snell & Belk, 1987), with the comprehensive empirical validation and Revised Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale published in 1989 in the Annals of Sex Research. The SSDS and SSDS-R are psychometric instruments developed for academic and scientific inquiry. They are available for non-commercial educational, clinical, and scientific research without licensing fees, provided proper bibliographic attribution is maintained. Commercial applications, including inclusion within proprietary software or fee-for-service testing platforms, require formal licensing agreements and written consent from the copyright holder and authors.

12. References

Altman, I., & Taylor, D. A. (1973). Social penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships. Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Jourard, S. M. (1971). The transparent self. D. Van Nostrand Co.

Snell, W. E., Jr., & Belk, S. S. (1987, April). Development of the Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale (SSDS): Sexual disclosure to female and male therapists. Paper presented at the 33rd annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, New Orleans, LA.

Snell, W. E., Jr., Belk, S. S., Papini, D. R., & Clark, S. (1989). Development and validation of the Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale. Annals of Sex Research, 2(4), 307–334. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00850073

Thibaut, J. W., & Kelley, H. H. (1959). The social psychology of groups. John Wiley & Sons.

13. Items of the Scale