A proposal of a measure of societal sexual double standard

Abstract

A version of the Double Standard Scale (SDSS) is presented to assess the subjective perception of society's support for the Sexual Double Standard (SDS). We examine its psychometric properties in a sample of Spanish population heterosexual of 1,206 individuals (50% males), distributed across three groups (18-34, 35-49, and 50 years old or older).We performed Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory. The found version consists of 18 item distributed into three factors (Acceptance for Male Sexual Shyness, Acceptance for Female Sexual Freedom and Acceptance for Traditional Double Standard).A second-order factor structure was also adequate. Internal consistency, temporal stability and validity evidence are reported. This version of the SDSS is reliable and valid. It allows to assess the perception of societal sexual double standard. Its usefulness to improve the predictive validity of the standardized scales that evaluate the individual adhesion to SDS is discussed.