Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Italian Female Sexual Subjectivity Inventory

The Female Sexual Subjectivity Inventory (FSSI) is a 20-item self-report measure to assess whether women feel entitled to express and satisfy their sexual needs. Despite the relevance of sexual subjectivity for female sexual wellbeing, the FSSI has not yet received scientific attention in Italy. For this reason, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the FSSI. A community sample of 1404 women (mean age = 22.25±3.42 years; age range 18-35 years) was recruited in Italy. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the Italian FSSI had a five-factor structure, similar to the original version, named Sexual body-esteem, Sense of entitlement to sexual pleasure from self, Sense of entitlement to sexual pleasure from partner, Self-efficacy in achieving sexual pleasure, and Sexual self-reflection. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the five-factor structure of the Italian FSSI had good fit. The Italian FSSI showed good internal reliability (Cronbach’s alphas for the five factors were.74,.77,.77,.85, and.76 respectively) and good convergent validity. Overall, results indicate that the Italian FSSI has good psychometric properties and can be used to assess sexual subjectivity among young Italian women.