The Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI-R) is a 9-item
self-report questionnaire designed to measure individuals differences in the tendency to have casual, uncommitted sexual relationships. This tendency, termed ''
sociosexuality
Sociosexuality, sometimes called sociosexual orientation, is the individual difference in the willingness to engage in sexual activity outside of a committed relationship. Individuals who are more ''restricted'' sociosexually are less willing to en ...
'' or ''sociosexual orientation'', is divided into three facets measured by the inventory: ''behavior'' (in terms of number of casual and changing sex partners), ''attitude'' (towards
uncommitted sex) and ''desire'' (for people not in a romantic relationship).
The most recent revision is from 2008.
History
Sociosexuality as a concept was introduced by
Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Charles Kinsey (; June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956) was an American sexologist, biologist, and professor of entomology and zoology who, in 1947, founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Insti ...
to describe differences in individuals tendency to engage in uncommitted sexual relationships.
Minimal research was done until interest in the topic markedly increased when Gangestad and Simpson released their 5-item Sociosexual Orientation Inventory in 1991. However, serious problems were found with the original scale with respect to sociosexuality as a single dimension, its sometimes low
internal consistency
In statistics and research, internal consistency is typically a measure based on the correlations between different items on the same test (or the same subscale on a larger test). It measures whether several items that propose to measure the same g ...
, skewed score distribution, and one question inapplicable to singles. It was these concerns that led Penke and Asendorpf to create the SOI-R to deal with these issues.
There currently exist two variations on the SOI-R currently available in 25 languages, a 9-point response scale for integration with the original Gangestad and Simpson SOI and a 5-point response scale for the majority of subjects. The language versions include Czech, English, Hungarian, or Polish.
Findings
Significant sex differences have been found between men and women on the scale, with a significantly larger correlation between the attitude and behavior facets of the SOI-R in women compared to men (proposed to be due to lower opportunity for behavior).
There were pronounced sex differences in desire, mediocre differences for attitude (with men scoring higher than women) no differences in behavior in
heterosexual
Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions ...
test-takers.
Improving on the previous Gangestad and Simpson Sociosexuality scale, the three factors appeared to make unique contributions and have
discriminant validity In psychology, discriminant validity tests whether concepts or measurements that are not supposed to be related are actually unrelated.
Campbell and Fiske (1959) introduced the concept of discriminant validity within their discussion on evaluating ...
. Desire made unique contributions to the prediction of past sexual and relationship behaviors, observer-rated attractiveness, self-perceived mate value, and male and female flirting behavior, as well as having links with sex drive and relationship quality. Attitude appears responsible for the effect of sociosexuality on mate preferences,
assortative mating, and romantic partner's flirtatiousness outside the relationship.
[Penke, L. (2011). Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory. In T. D. Fisher, C. M. Davis, W. L. Yarber & S. L. Davis (Eds.): Handbook of sexuality-related measures (3rd Ed.) (pp. 622-625). New York: Routledge.] Evening-oriented females (but not males) were more unrestricted in behavior, attitude, and desire.
See also
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Mating system
A mating system is a way in which a group is structured in relation to sexual behaviour. The precise meaning depends upon the context. With respect to animals, the term describes which males and females mating, mate under which circumstances. Reco ...
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Monogamy
Monogamy ( ) is a social relation, relationship of Dyad (sociology), two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate Significant other, partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or #Serial monogamy ...
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Polygamy
Polygamy (from Late Greek , "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more tha ...
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Promiscuity
Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as promiscuous by man ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
SOI-R(
PDF
Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...
), Penke, L.
Sexual orientation
Psychological tests and scales