Development and Assessment of Measures of Adolescents' Attitudes about Sexual Relationship Rights.

Objective: Develop and validate measures of adolescents' attitudes about sexual relationship rights.Methods: Items were completed by students in a large U.S. city (N= 655). The authors conducted an exploratory factor analysis, evaluated internal consistency, and assessed construct validity, including ability to predict sexual behavior at 1-year follow-up.Results: Factor analysis identified 2 distinct factors, comprising attitudes about rights to refuse unwanted sexual activity (5 items) and express sexual engagement needs (5 items) in a sexual relationship. The measures showed sound evidence of reliability and construct validity.Conclusions: The psychometric evidence supports the use of these measures in adolescent sexual health research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]