Search

The Illinois-Rape Myth Acceptance-Short Form (IRMA-SF) is a widely used scale measuring people's endorsement of rape myths. However, it uses heavily gendered wording and makes gender-based assumptions that may affect its generalizability to various subgroups of people, including sexual and gender minorities who may view gender constructs outside of the heteronormative gender binary. This study validates the psychometric properties of a modified form of the IRMA-SF that is gender inclusive. Participants were adults with a range of sexual orientations and gender identities. Two sets of data were merged and then the sample was randomly split with a 20/80 weight. Data in the 20% split were used for exploratory factor analyses. Data in the 80% split were used for confirmatory factor analyses. According to the exploratory factor analysis, we found a theoretically predicted one-factor model was best (41% variance explained). Further, we found acceptable absolute model fit according to the confirmatory factor analysis (RMSEA = .07, p < .001; SRMR = .06) but unsatisfactory incremental fit (CFI = .82). These model issues were likely due to a floor-effect of low item variability which may call into question the utility of this scale in determining differences in rape myth acceptance overall. Overwhelmingly, participants in this study rejected rape myths. Researchers should explore the use of gender inclusive wording with an updated rape myth scale for use with sexual and gender minorities and, perhaps the general population, as some of these statements may be lacking in cultural relevance.

Disclosure is often a challenge for individuals living with genital herpes. This study explores determinants of genital herpes disclosure with one's most recent sexual partner using an online questionnaire (n = 93). The majority of participants reported (80.4%) disclosure. Among non-disclosers, fear of negative partner reactions was the primary reason for non-disclosure. Age, relationship commitment, time in relationship, and expectations of partner's reaction were statistically significant predictors at the bivariate level. Reaction expectations and relationship commitment remained significant in the multivariate logistic regression model. Findings indicate that future disclosure research should focus on relationship context and managing negative expectations to increase disclosure., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

Purpose: Public health officials promote sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing as a method to reduce the morbidity of STIs. The purpose of this study was to examine what factors are associated with STI testing among young women across various types of STIs and to compare relative influences of factors across models., Methods: A secondary data analysis of data from Add Health Wave III was conducted (n=2629). Explanatory factors highlighted in qualitative literature were operationalized and built into a logistic regression model used to predict testing for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, human papillomavirus (HPV), genital herpes, and HIV., Results: STI symptoms and concerns about a recent sexual encounter were important expressed reasons for seeking medical care. Number of sexual partners, sexual orientation, STI symptoms, and going to the gynecologist in the past 12 months were important predictors of testing across STIs. This study supports qualitative work that suggests preventive health consciousness, STI symptoms, and relationship characteristics are important factors in STI testing. Results question the validity of self-report data regarding STI testing., Conclusions: Education efforts in secondary school health programs and during gynecologic examinations can decrease confusion about STI testing.