Preliminary report on the development and validation of the sexual symptom assessment scale

In order to measure the severity of symptoms of Compulsive Sexual Behavior (CSB) the Sexual Symptom Assessment Scale (S-SAS) was developed. The S-SAS is a 12-item, self-rated scale, with each item scored 0-8; higher scores indicate more severe symptoms. [symptomatology-the study of symptoms] The S-SAS was found to have good test-retest reliability. It also demonstrated good convergent and divergent validity in that it showed a strong correlation with the Compulsive Sexual Behavior Inventory, a measure of the CSB traits, and with clinician ratings of CSB symptoms. In contrast, the S-SAS did not display a significant correlation with ratings of overall psychopathology.